The Resentment of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Kirino
Summary: Kyon and Yuki have become closer than before, and they think Haruhi's no longer a problem. But when she begins to realize what's happening between them, a rift grows between them, and she won't take it lying down. Sequel to Nagato Yuki no Yuuutsu.
1. A New Beginning

_This is the sequel to "_Nagato Yuki no Yuuutsu._" If you haven't read that, please do so before proceeding with this fanfic._

_Disclaimers: Only Nagaru Tanigawa and Kyon own Haruhi._

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* * *

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**A New Beginning  
**

Haruhi was still staring daggers at me due to my extreme lateness. I dithered on the spot, wondering what she would do to me this time.

"Kyon, you and Yuki go watch your movie now," she said. "But after you bring Yuki home, go to my house. I have a few… chores that need to be taken care of," she added with a devilish grin on her face.

"Be considerate Haruhi!" I exclaimed. "I was almost murdered yesterday! Can't you cut me some slack?"

"Kyon, what the hell are you talking about?" That's one of the worst excuses I've ever heard," said Haruhi smugly.

"B-but I'm serious!" I exasperatedly shouted.

I saw Koizumi and Asahina-san shake their heads ever so slightly.

"Not going to work Kyon. Anyway, let's go leave Kyon and Yuki now," said Haruhi.

What the hell? It's as if Koizumi or any of them didn't mention yesterday's disastrous events. You know, the one where we all almost _died_?

Haruhi then stalked off, without waiting for Koizumi and Asahina-san to follow. I decided to confront Koizumi right then and there, while Haruhi was out of earshot.

"Hey Koizumi, how come Haruhi doesn't know that we all almost died yesterday?" I scornfully asked.

"Well Kyon," said Koizumi thoughtfully. "Obviously, we cannot let Suzumiya-san know about the existence of human purpose organic interfaces, even though the chance that she caused them to exist to begin with is very high."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because if she discovers that the interfaces, or rather, in her own words, aliens exist, then her logical faculties will collapse. Even though on the outside, she keeps talking about wanting to encounter aliens, time travelers, and espers, her logical faculties reason with her and tell her that those things cannot exist. If she comes across any empirical evidence that points to their existence one of two things could possibly happen."

"What would those be?"

"She could become self-aware of her powers, by putting two and two together," answered Koizumi.

"And that's… a bad thing. Right?" I said.

"It's not as bad as the other possibility," said Koizumi, his cheerful smile suddenly gone, his face all business.

"Which would be?"

"She could suffer a mental breakdown."

I couldn't say much after Koizumi told me that. Thankfully, Haruhi saved me from the arduous liberty of answering.

"Hey! Mikuru-chan, Koizumi-kun! Let's leave Kyon and Yuki and go to the park now! Last one to catch up gets a penalty!" called Haruhi.

With that, Asahina-san and Koizumi bid me and Nagato goodbye, and they made for the park, sauntering in Haruhi's wake.

I looked over at Nagato and she just smiled at me. She was once again wearing her sailor uniform. She really looks good in it, even if she does wear it almost every day. I might as well enjoy the movie with Nagato, before Haruhi unleashed the full magnitude of her fury on me.

* * *

It had already been one hour since the confrontation with Haruhi. The cinema was dark and cold, the lights turned off. It was announced just five minutes ago that the movie's screening would be delayed by fifteen minutes. According to the technical personnel, the film was found tangled up in the storeroom, and they would have to delicately unroll the film. Because of that, Nagato and I just sat quietly in our seats. I told her that I needed a short nap and asked her to wake me up when the movie starts. She then held my hand gently and said,

"I'm going to squeeze your hand to wake you up when the movie starts."

In reality, I was just pretending to be asleep, though I doubt that Nagato didn't know that. While Nagato sat beside me, gently cradling my hand, I was already reminiscing about the events that happened immediately after Haruhi's outburst.

_I watched the three of them walk away, Haruhi bobbing far ahead of the other two. I looked over at Nagato and said,_

"_So Nagato, what do you want to do? We've got one hour before the movie starts."_

"_I would like to go to a coffee shop with you, Kyon. Based on the data that I have gathered, dates usually involve drinking coffee in coffee shops."_

_She probably got this off a bunch of American sitcoms. I imagined the two of us talking about things that normal couples would talk about while on a date, but I remembered that, even if Nagato embraced her feelings for me, she was, by default, a stoic being._

_Imagine my surprise when, fifteen minutes later, while waiting for our cappuchinos in a Starbucks outlet that wasn't too far from the cinema, Nagato said,_

"_So Kyon, is there anything you like on television lately?"_

_I was stunned. How could Nagato ask such a normal question?_

"_The Integrated Data Thought Entity has granted me permission to reprogram my attribute data that is directly linked to my newfound emotions. Now, I can present myself to you in a setting that you are more familiar with. However, I was given one very specific and important restriction: I am only allowed to act this way when Haruhi Suzumiya is not in the immediate vicinity," replied Nagato._

_As a result, our fifteen minutes in Starbucks was just like any other normal human couple on a date. We talked about television, sports, food, the weather, school, and we arrived at the topic of computer games. She told me about her last visit to the Computer Club, wherein after she had programmed the map that I used a few days ago (for which she apologized again), she played "Day of Sagittarius III" against five members of the Computer Club in a one-on-five handicap match. Even if her lone fleet was the boss fleet, she decimated her opponents, who were all flabbergasted at being defeated by a lone fleet. I sensed her enthusiasm and said,_

"_Hey Nagato, want to go play a LAN FPS over at the computer shop over there?" I asked, while pointing at a store that was near Starbucks._

_She gave me a small smile and nodded._

_

* * *

_

_Half an hour later, as we made our way to the cinema, I smiled when I thought about our two on two game of Counterstrike earlier. Nagato died only once, in her first game, and scored the next thirty-five kills, twenty-seven of which were headshots. Come to think of it, I was probably a liability in that game…_

I felt Nagato squeeze my hand, and my thoughts swiveled back to the present.

"Kyon, the movie is going to start in approximately five seconds," said Nagato.

I looked at the silver screen and true enough, I saw the five second countdown on the screen.

* * *

Two hours later, as I was arm-in-arm with Nagato in her room, about to bid her goodbye, Nagato broke our warm silence and said,

"Kyon, thank you very much for taking me out today."

"No problem Nagato. It's not as if I didn't enjoy the day with you as well, so it's no big deal," I replied. "Anyway, I have to go, Nagato. Haruhi is expecting me at her house shortly."

"Is that why she called your cell phone earlier?"

I rolled my eyes, and replied, "Yeah. That's why I was almost thrown out of the cinema. Haruhi kept screaming in my ears, and I couldn't help but shout back at her."

Nagato smiled and giggled very quietly, so quietly that anyone else would've missed it. Not me though.

"Anyway Nagato, I'm going now," I said.

"Wait a moment Kyon," said Nagato, who reverted back to her hitherto normal emotionless self.

I turned around and said, "What is it Nagato?"

"If you notice anything unusual or out of the ordinary with Haruhi Suzumiya, please let me know as soon as possible."

"Okay. See you," I said.

As I made my way to leave once more, I felt Nagato tug my polo shirt's sleeve. I turned and, before she could say a word, planted a light kiss on her lips.

"Goodbye Nagato. See you on Monday," I said, as I walked out of the door.

What a date. Now, all I have to go through today was whatever ordeal Haruhi had in store for me. Then, I could call it a day.

Yare yare..


	2. In Denial

**In Denial**

With Haruhi's fury looming ahead of me, I was definitely not motivated to immediately arrive at her house. I decided to take my time, sauntering slowly, as though I was strolling around New York City's Central Park. I thought of how pissed off Haruhi would be if it took me so long to arrive at her house. Whatever. If she's pissed off, then she's pissed off. I'll let Koizumi and his espers contain the closed spaces that might arise from her temper.

While I walked at the same rate as a snail crawling its way towards food, my cell phone suddenly rang. I took it out and checked who the caller was. Ah, speak of the devil.

"Hello?"

"KYON! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" shouted Haruhi.

"Lower your voice Haruhi!" I shouted back. "I'm already on my way there."

"What's taking you so long? Where exactly are you anyway?"

"It doesn't matter," I replied. "Don't be impatient, I'm coming already!"

"Hmph. Fine."

With that, she slammed the phone shut. Boy, will Koizumi and his friends have a field day with this…

I suddenly remembered the first time I had set foot in closed space..

_I feel like today was really pointless. All we did was to go to Nagato's apartment and attempt to contact Ryouko Asakura, who had supposedly moved to Canada with her parents. But of course, Haruhi didn't know that Asakura was a human purpose organic interface who had tried to kill me, and, as a result, was defeated by Nagato in a battle that would have baffled any ordinary human being._

_Ah, finally, I'm home. I better get some re—_

"_Hello."_

"_Koizumi?"_

"_I'm now going to fulfill my promise to you. I've been waiting for you to get home for quite a while now."_

"_Have you been stalking me?" I asked. "It seems like you know where I went today."_

"_Not really," winked Koizumi. "Could I please have some of your time?"_

"_Does this have anything to do with Haruhi?"_

"_Yes, it is related to Suzumiya-san," replied Koizumi._

_He flagged a black taxi and beckoned for me to get in the vehicle. Once we were on the road, he resumed the conversation._

"_So, the other day, you wanted proof that I was an esper, right? Well, now, an opportunity has presented itself, so I thought that you might've wanted to come along."_

"_What's the point in traveling this far?" I asked._

"_I can only show you my esper powers in a certain location, under certain circumstances," he replied. "Our current destination just so happens to fulfill those requirements."_

_Koizumi smiled._

"_Do you really believe that Haruhi is God?" I asked._

"_Have you ever heard of the anthropic principle?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Basically, it says that, if something is true for us human beings, then it is indeed infallibly true because we humans, who consider it to be true, exist," said Koizumi._

"_I did not get a single word of what you just said."_

"_For example, I observe that the universe exists. Therefore, it really must exist. We humans discovered and postulated the various laws of physics, and through those discoveries, we became aware of the existence of a universe that seems to conform to those laws. If, say, we humans had not evolved to our current intellectual level, no one would be able to make those observations, and that means that we cannot know for sure if the universe does exist. Basically, the existence of intelligent humans permits the existence of the universe."_

"_That's just plain ridiculous," I said. "Our existence doesn't affect the existence of the universe. It doesn't matter if we are here, or if we're not here. Regardless, the universe will still exist."_

"_That's right Kyon. That's why the anthropic principle is just theory and speculation."_

_Koizumi suddenly began to drone on about various things that made the least bit of sense to me. I vaguely understood what he said, hearing him say things like particle-mass ratios, probability, astronomical odds, and many more things I didn't get._

"_You sound a lot like those pamphlets for those pseudoscience religions," I remarked. "But what does this stuff have to do with Haruhi anyway?"_

"_You remember that I mentioned that it is possible that Suzumiya-san created this world?"_

"_Yeah, and it annoys the hell out of me."_

"_She has the ability to make wishes come true. Her own wishes, at the very least. For example, she firmly believes that aliens exist. Thus, that came to be, and that is why Yuki Nagato is here. In the same way, she wished for time travelers and espers to exist. That is why Mikuru Asahina and myself are here."_

"_Tell me, how do you know that's true?"_

"_Well, it started three years ago…"_

"_Screw three years ago, I've heard it one too many times already."_

"_Anyway, three years ago, I suddenly realized that I had certain powers within myself. I also suddenly knew how to use those powers, without any prior instruction. I also knew that Suzumiya-san caused this to come into being, though I couldn't explain why."_

"_I still doubt that Haruhi could do all of that," I skeptically said._

"_We ourselves found it hard to believe that a single human female had the ability to change the world completely, based on her whims and desires. No, not only change the world, but she may have created this world to begin with. And if she feels that this world is too boring for her, if she really did create the world, then this is a very dangerous and terrifying situation to behold," said Koizumi._

"_Why would that be?"_

"_Because, if she is capable of creating this world, she is also capable of destroying it, and creating a new world in its place. Quite literally, that would be Armageddon, the end of the world, the second coming, or however you want to describe it. As a consequence of this, we would have no idea if it really happened. In fact, it is actually believable that this world, the world we are living in right now, might be the latest in a series of created worlds."_

"_Why don't you go reveal your true identity to Haruhi, so that we can prevent this from happening?"_

"_A problem could arise with that, Kyon. If she finds out that I am an esper, then she will conclude that all transfer students are espers, making espers more common than they really are. And, if Suzumiya-san believes in that, then the number of espers would undoubtedly increase. The same logic goes for time travelers and aliens. The world would really end up that way if she finds out and truly believes in what she discovers. She could singlehandedly destroy the laws of physics, and the entire universe would erupt into chaos," replied Koizumi._

"_If Haruhi really wished for you people to exist, then how come she hasn't noticed yet?"_

"_Her desire for aliens, time travelers, and espers to exist contradicts with her common sense and logical reasoning. She may carry herself that way, but in reality, she is a very rational person. In fact, she has calmed down since her middle school days, an event that we desire. However, ever since she set foot in North High…. It was as if a storm suddenly came in."_

"_What do you mean, Koizumi?"_

"_It's your fault Kyon."_

"_Why the hell is it my fault!?"_

"_You gave Suzumiya-san the idea of forming the SOS Brigade. Your conversation with her on that day gave her the idea of forming a group with strange individuals that conformed to what she desired. Therefore, the responsibility is yours, Kyon. That is partly why Nagato, Mikuru Asahina, and myself are here."_

_Suddenly, the car stopped at a crossroad somewhere in town._

"_Ah, here we are."_

_We got off the car in the middle of the intersection and stood there for a while. Then, Koizumi beckoned for me to follow him._

"_Kyon. Please close your eyes for a bit. It'll only take a few seconds."_

_Suddenly, he grasped my hand. Gah! What the hell?_

"_What are you doing Koizumi?"_

"_That's enough," he replied. "Please open your eyes now."_

"_Where are we?"_

"_The void between a dimensional fault. Also known as closed space. It is separated from our world, and is created when Suzumiya-san undergoes stress. One of the powers I possess is to enter spaces such as these, as well as…"_

_He continued to drone on about mundane details about this place we were in. Please, Koizumi, next time, don't make your explanations so long-winded!_

"… _and so I am like the medicine that cures her irrational moments of thought. Anyway Kyon, please look over there."_

_He gestured to the rest of the city in the closed space. Suddenly, a huge blue creature appeared out of nowhere and began destroying buildings and such._

"_When Suzumiya-san's irritation passes a certain point, those giants, or Celestials, as we call it, appear. Our job as espers is to destroy those giants, because if they are left unchecked, then they will cause more destruction inside closed space. And when that happens, closed space expands. It could potentially expand to such a point where the closed space will engulf the entire world. Now Kyon, please excuse me for a bit, I shall have to join my colleagues," said Koizumi._

_Koizumi stepped back, and suddenly began to glow bright red. Then, he flew towards his colleagues and they began destroying the Celestial that had appeared. Kind of reminds me of those old Power Rangers cartoons I used to watch when I was a kid._

_After a short while, the Celestial was gone, and Koizumi appeared beside me again._

"_Kyon, there's one more thing you should see. The destruction of closed space happens when any Celestials that form inside it are destroyed. Please watch," he said._

_Just like that, the sky suddenly seemed to splinter, and the ceiling of the closed space seemed to crack like a glass bowl that had received a strong blow. In the next instant, we were back in the real world._

I looked up from my thoughts and saw Haruhi's house. There she stood, waiting for me with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

I sighed.

Yare yare. May God have mercy on my poor soul. If she's feeling merciful at all...

* * *

I saw Kyon strolling towards me as though he had all the time in the world. Grrr… Why the hell is he making me wait anyway?

"Kyon!" I called. "Hurry up and get inside the house."

"Don't be so impatient Haruhi," he replied. _I'm not in the mood for your lip right now, Kyon._

Once we both went inside, I decided to think about all the chores I haven't done. Hehe. Poor Kyon. Maybe I should go help him do _some_ of the chores. I giggled.

"What's so funny, Haruhi?" he asked.

"Stop asking pointless questions Kyon. Here's what you're going to do. My parents are out tonight, and you're going to help me clean the house and do those chores I haven't done for the week."

He just sighed and said, "Why Haruhi, why me?"

"Because…"

I stuttered for a moment there. Gotta think of an answer for Kyon…

"I'm the Brigade leader, and you're just a peon, that's why!"

"Whatever Haruhi. Can we get started now, so I can go home?"

"Let's."

As Kyon and I started to clean the living room, I started to wonder about what he asked me earlier. Yeah, why Kyon anyway? There's really something about him that catches my attention, even if he's just a normal high school student. He can't possibly be an alien, time traveler or esper, after all. Just like that time he told me that Yuki-chan was an alien, Mikuru-chan was a time traveler, and Koizumi-kun was an esper. Not a chance. It would be too easy if that was true.

By the time we had moved onto the dishes in the kitchen, I still couldn't answer his question honestly, even if I was only asking myself. Indeed, why you, Kyon?

"Yo. Haruhi. Could you hand me the bottle of dishwashing liquid?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, here you go," I answered distractedly.

He noticed that and asked, "What's wrong with you now?"

"N-nothing," I said.

He just nodded and we got back to work.

* * *

After about 2 hours of cleaning, it was already nightfall. And I still haven't answered that question! Damn it Haruhi, what's wrong with you? You should easily know answers to such questions!

Since I felt like being nice to Kyon, I offered to have him eat dinner here.

"You're kidding. You want to make dinner for us?" he said, eyebrows raised.

"I'm not kidding. You're having dinner here, and that's an order!" I said.

"Alright already!" said Kyon.

As I prepared dinner, my attention was drifting, as I kept thinking about the question. Why? Why Kyon?

I suddenly remembered that very strange dream I had last year. That dream where I… ugh…

Kissed Kyon.

Was it really a dream? I remembered tying my hair in a ponytail the next day, without thinking. I remembered that he noticed, and even said,

"_Looks good on you, Haruhi."_

Hmm.. Could it be?

* * *

"Ah! This is good stuff, Haruhi. I didn't know that you could cook this well. Maybe you could cook in place of Asahina-san sometimes, right?"

_Ugh. He mentioned Mikuru-chan again._

"No way Kyon, Brigade leaders don't cook for their members."

"Regardless, thanks for the dinner Haruhi. If I only didn't almost die yesterday, I would probably enjoy this more," said Kyon.

"That again? You know Kyon, it'll never work."

"I thought so Haruhi. Anyway, can I go home now? I really have to get some sleep."

"Uh, yeah, sure. See you," I said.

The moment he left my house, I went upstairs to my bedroom without even bothering to clean up downstairs.

I'm so confused. What is this that I'm feeling anyway? Maybe I'll think more clearly if I go to bed early. Time for my bath…

* * *

As I lay in bed that night, I couldn't help but wonder aimlessly about what he asked me.

"_Why Haruhi, why me?"_

He must have been thinking about how he tried to use that lame excuse for being late. He almost died… Yeah right Kyon, who's leg are you trying to pull anyway?

But then I thought about it. What if Kyon had really almost died?

All of a sudden, I felt tears stream down my face.

* * *

_A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, been busy with exams lately. I hope I wrote Haruhi's PoV well. Please comment so I can further improve! :D_


	3. Confusing Circumstances

**Confusing Circumstances**

It has been two days since my first date with Nagato. Today is Monday, and it's the beginning of another week of schooling at North High. Back to more of Haruhi's Brigade activities, since her hiatus only lasted until Friday last week.

In any case, she wouldn't have had a chance to pull something off on that day, since Koizumi convinced her to immediately end the meeting that afternoon due to us discovering that Asakura and the enemy interfaces were coming.

Speaking of Haruhi… She was acting really strange when I went to her house to help her with the household chores.

I brushed the thought aside. Haruhi is actually very susceptible to having these unpredictable mood swings. One minute, she's all genki and excited about her next scheme for the Brigade, the next minute, she's staring out of the window, deep in thought.

I was suddenly shaken out of my thoughts by a hard blow to my back. I slightly cringed in pain and looked at whoever hit me, fully expecting the culprit to be Taniguchi.

I wasn't disappointed.

"Damn it Taniguchi, stop trying to copy Asa Shigure!" I snapped.

"Who's that Kyon?" he replied.

"Never you mind, Anyway, what do you want?" I said harshly.

"I saw you go to Suzumiya's house on Saturday afternoon. Come on Kyon, don't tell me you're cheating on Nagato."

Boy, that really pissed me off. I would never, _ever_ cheat on Nagato. I grabbed his tie and furiously said,

"Don't EVER say that, Taniguchi."

"Okay already, Kyon, cool it. I was just wondering, you know. Besides, is this how you treat your friends?" said Taniguchi.

I let go of his tie and said,

"Sorry. But sometimes, you can be _that_ annoying, Taniguchi."

"Yeah, well, that's me Kyon. So, what did you do at Suzumiya's house anyway?"

"She just rented me as her maid for the evening," I dryly said.

"What? Suzumiya makes you wear maid costumes too? And I thought it was only Asahina she dressed up…"

"See, this is exactly what I'm talking about, Taniguchi. Stop making such stupid assumptions and think before saying something."

"Sorry Kyon. In that case, what exactly do you mean when you said that she rented you as her maid for the night?"

"She made me help her clean her house, and wash the dishes."

"Oh. So you're still just one of Suzumiya's lackeys after all this time? No wonder you decided to hook up with Nagato instead of Suzumiya."

Damn it. Pissing me off again.

"Sorry, sorry Kyon. You were right about one thing though. Things between me and Tsuruya-san did not go well at all. Maybe I'll ask that Emiri Kimidori out next. See ya Kyon," said Taniguchi, while he ran across the steep hill we were on towards North High.

Emiri Kimidori this time? Jeez Taniguchi, your prospects are getting even worse as the days go by. Honestly, you don't have a chance with a human purpose organic interface. So far, only Nagato has willingly embraced the concept and presence of emotions. As for Kimidori-san, I don't know to what extent she has experienced and felt emotions. I can be sure that she has felt at least a bit, since she told me that Nagato had granted her permission to partially synchronize with her.

With Taniguchi having sped off ahead of me, I reached the gates of North High without any further incident. As I look over at the school building that towered me, I searched the windows for our classroom out of curiosity and thought about Haruhi. I wonder what she'd be feeling today…

* * *

To repay Kyon for taking me out on Saturday, I wanted to take him out to dinner tonight. Since Haruhi Suzumiya will not be around if we go out, this dinner that I was planning provided another opportunity for me to present myself in a way that would be more normal for Kyon by modifying some of the attribute data in my system that is directly linked to my emotions, just like during our time in the coffee shop on Saturday.

I excused myself from my class under the pretense of going to the washroom, since I did not feel like performing any unnecessary data manipulation today. Concerning my plan, there is a 95% chance that I wouldn't have to perform any data manipulation. A simple note would do.

I proceeded first to Kyon's classroom to make sure that he was there and not at his locker, to ensure that my surprise would not be spoiled. Ah, there he is, sitting in his chair and looking extremely bored. There was no need for me at all to manipulate any of his physical attribute data. In my eyes, he was already perfect.

After a few minutes of admiring Kyon's features, I went downstairs to his locker to put my plan into action. I took out a bookmark from my pocket, similar to the ones I had left for him before, a bookmark that would tell Kyon to go home instead of bringing me to my apartment and to dress smartly and to meet at the train station by seven in the evening.

I smiled. Kyon really has brought out the best in me, as according to the data I've gathered, no other interface has had this kind of emotional interaction with any sentient being in history.

I realized that the chair behind Kyon was empty by the time I got to his locker.

* * *

I bet that by the time I go back to the classroom for lunch, Kyon's going to be wondering where I've been. It's so like him to ask me where I've been when he notices that I'm not behind him in class. But today, I really felt like skipping class, since I had a lot of things to think about right now.

I did not sleep well last night. My dreams were punctuated with scenes that I didn't particularly like. Most of them involved Kyon dying in front of me, and I would always be powerless to stop his death.

With that thought, I sighed once again. But, that's impossible! This is probably just me worrying about the safety of one of my Brigade members. As the Brigade commander, that was part of my responsibility to the SOS Brigade. Yeah, that's got to be it.

I wandered around the building, deep in thought about this entire business. But when he told me on Saturday that he had almost died, he looked genuinely serious about it. Kyon never usually jokes about those kinds of serious things anyway. I remembered my immediate reaction. I wanted to go find whoever it was that may have caused him to almost die and I would beat the crap out of him or her with a baseball bat. No one touches my Brigade members without _my_ permission! But instead, I gave all of them my customary reply to Kyon's "excuses."

Maybe it just wasn't that. There really was a part of me that didn't want to believe that Kyon had very nearly died. A part of me that genuinely felt scared at the mere thought of Kyon's death. A part of me that was to blame for my sleepless night last night.

I sighed once again. I turned into the corridor that was our classroom, since I felt like checking on Kyon, and I saw Yuki-chan standing outside the classroom. What was Yuki-chan doing out of her class anyway? She was probably watching Kyon…

All of a sudden, I felt as though something furry stirred deep inside of me. Something like a cat, or, I dunno, whatever. The furry thing purred at first, then suddenly, it had hostile feelings that I suddenly shared. It was as if I wanted to give Yuki-chan a penalty for standing there, watching Kyon. Huh? This isn't right. I shouldn't give her a penalty for such a trivial matter. Idiot. Keep thinking like this and you're going to mess up your own Brigade. If that happens, how are we going to go and find aliens, espers, time travelers and sliders? Stop being so irrational Haruhi! What kind of Brigade commander are you!?

Without warning, Yuki-chan just walked away and went downstairs. The furry beast inside me stirred and told me to silently follow her to wherever she was going. Without thinking, I obliged.

I followed Yuki and I saw her go to the student's lockers. While hiding behind a concrete pillar, I saw her open one locker and put a small object inside. Hmm. What's this? Is that Kyon's locker she's opening? Or her own? I have to know! As the Brigade commander, I should be kept in the loop when it involves these things.

After placing the object inside the locker, Yuki left. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to find out what the object was, and whose locker she placed it in. I went to the locker and quietly opened it.

Those rubber sneakers. Those sneakers belonged to Kyon. So this is Kyon's locker. I reached for the small object that Yuki-chan had put inside, and took a look at it. It was an ornately designed bookmark, with floral patterns all over it. I turned it over and saw a note on the back.

_After today's meeting, do not bring me home to my apartment. By the time you read this, I will have successfully convinced you to let me go home by myself today. Immediately go to your house and change your clothing to something you consider as slightly more formal than our everyday schoolwear. Proceed to the train station at seven in the evening. I will be waiting for you there._

Why on earth does Yuki want to meet Kyon at the train station at seven in the evening? Are they going on a date or something? The furry beast inside me reared its back and screamed in protest at this information.

Suddenly, the lunch bell rang. I took the bookmark from Kyon's locker and pocketed it, and then I made my way back to the classroom.

* * *

I heard the bell ring, but I ignored it for the time being and decided to sleep some more. Man, was that English literature lesson boring or what? Maybe I need to ask Haruhi or Nagato to help me, or else I might even fail the subject. Speaking of Haruhi…

I turned in my chair and saw her sitting there, staring out of the window. She must be in her melancholic mood once again.

"Yo. When did you arrive?" I asked.

"Just now."

She resumed staring out of the window after she replied. What could she possibly be thinking of this time?

"Hey Haruhi, wanna have some lunch?" I asked, trying to be polite.

"No thanks Kyon. Just leave me alone."

Okay, whatever. I'll just go join Taniguchi and Kunikida for lunch now.

"Go ahead," she mumbled.

* * *

As we walked to the Brigade clubroom after school, Haruhi just walked beside me in silence. She was still deep in thought, like she had been the entire time in class since she arrived at lunchtime. This could possibly get out of hand if I didn't do something. More closed spaces for Koizumi and his gang to deal with at the worst.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked.

She just shook her head and said, "I had a big breakfast this morning."

Okay. She was probably just under the weather or something. At least Koizumi can't blame me this time.

When we got the clubroom, Haruhi didn't barge in, so I took the opportunity to politely knock on the door, so we wouldn't potentially witness a live-action-Asahina-san-clothes-changing-session.

"Come in!" said Asahina-san.

We entered the room and there stood Asahina-san, who immediately said, "Hello Suzumiya-san, Kyon-kun. Here, let me serve the two of you some tea."

She scurried over to the stove and poured two cups for Haruhi and me. She set my cup on the table across from Koizumi, who was busily moving chess pieces while referring to a chess tactics book, and Haruhi's cup on her computer desk beside the sign that said "Brigade Commander."

Koizumi acknowledged our presence and greeted us accordingly.

"Hello Suzumiya-san, Kyon-kun."

Nagato just sat there in the corner, and when she saw that it was us, she smiled at me and just nodded.

Koizumi's smile seemed very forced today. Then, Haruhi said something that really took me by surprise.

"Hey everyone, I'm going to dismiss you all right now. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so you can all go home now. Mikuru-chan, thanks for the tea, but not today."

What. Did Haruhi really just say all that? Not only did she dismiss us early of her own accord, but did she just refuse some of Asahina-san's tea? Wow.

"A-ah, okay, Suzumiya-san," said Asahina-san. "I'll just drink your tea if it's okay."

"Sure," said Haruhi. "I'm dismissing you all now, so go already! Mikuru-chan, Koizumi-kun, please clean up after yourselves. I'm going to be the last to leave the room today, since I have to check on something for a bit before I leave."

The two of them nodded and they began to clean up after themselves. Once that was done, Asahina-san and Koizumi bid us goodbye and left. Time for Nagato and me to go home as well. Got to bring her home first though.

Nagato gestured to the door and I followed her.

"Bye Haruhi," I called.

She didn't answer me. Oh well.

* * *

When Kyon closed the door, I suddenly heard their footsteps stop in the hallway outside. I moved closer to the door and decided to eavesdrop on them.

"Kyon, I'd rather go home by myself today," I heard Yuki-chan say.

"Are you sure?" said Kyon.

"Yes, I am sure. Also, don't forget to take your sneakers home. They really have to be washed."

"Yeah Nagato, you're right, I haven't washed those in a while. Off to my locker now… Alright, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then. Love you."

"Okay. I love you too Kyon. See you tomorrow," said Yuki.

I felt a tear stream down my cheek. I took the bookmark out of my pocket and studied its ornate designs once more, then I crumpled it and put it back in my pocket.

* * *

_A/N: Read and review please! Three different PoVs in one chapter. Phew. _


	4. Revelation

_Disclaimers: I do not own _Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu_._

_

* * *

_

**Revelation**

Man, good thing Nagato reminded me to have my sneakers washed. It's been quite a while since I last washed those…

I went to my locker, retrieved my shoes, and then decided to go home. I still couldn't believe that Haruhi dismissed the Brigade early today. Even before, during that one day in the rain where she sent me to pick up a heater from the other side of town, despite the extremely low temperature that day, she didn't dismiss us early. But as for today…

I wonder what's up with Haruhi…

* * *

After I ate dinner, I decided to go watch the seven o'clock news, for a change of pace. If Haruhi had caused something to happen, no doubt that if it's major, the news stations would have gotten wind of such an event.

With a jolt, I stood up. I had forgotten all about Nagato's request the other day, when we had our date!

"_If you notice anything unusual or out of the ordinary with Haruhi Suzumiya, please let me know as soon as possible."_

Oh man! Gotta call Nagato…

As I made for the phone, it suddenly rang. Huh? That's weird. I picked it up.

"Hello, who is this please?"

"…"

"Hello?" I said yet again.

"This is Yuki, Kyon."

"Oh Nagato, you're exactly the person I wanted to talk to. It's about Haruhi."

"A moment, Kyon. When you removed your filthy sneakers from your locker, did you, by any chance, see a bookmark in your locker?"

"No. Why? Did you leave me a bookmark to tell me something? Couldn't you just tell me in person?" I asked, slightly dejected that Nagato couldn't tell me something in person.

"It was supposed to be a surprise…." She trailed off into silence.

Oh, a surprise. That made me feel better.

"What surprise?" I asked.

"Nevermind. The current situation is as Itsuki Koizumi has suspected. He is here right now in my room, together with Mikuru Asahina. I called you because Itsuki Koizumi requests your presence here at the soonest possible time. According to him, we have another problem with Haruhi Suzumiya. I am in agreement with his conclusion, so Kyon, please come here right now, if it is possible," said Nagato.

"Okay Nagato, I'll be over in a while. Wait for me."

"Understood. Oh, Kyon?"

"Yes?"

"Take care of yourself," said Nagato.

"Don't worry, I will. Anyway, see you," I said, as I dropped the call.

Oh great. Another situation that involved Haruhi. What's new anyway?

* * *

After making excuses for my parents and some very, very tiring biking, I arrived at Nagato's apartment complex. Then, I saw her waiting for me at the ground floor lobby. When I approached her, she spoke with urgency in her voice.

"Quickly Kyon, there is much we have to discuss," said Nagato.

This must be something big, if she sounded so urgent. Without further ado, we hurried towards her room, as though a huge fireball was chasing us, like in those action movies the Americans made in Hollywood.

When we got to her room, we were greeted by the sight of an Asahina-san who looked pensive, and an unsmiling Koizumi.

I decided to preempt everything by breaking the silence.

"Okay Koizumi, what's the situation?"

"I take it that you have noticed Suzumiya-san's recent outburst of melancholy?"

"Who could not notice, Koizumi?"

"Precisely Kyon. After she dismissed us earlier this afternoon, as Asahina-san and myself were walking out of the building, my phone suddenly rang. When I answered it, it was my colleague informing me that we had a quite a few closed spaces to deal with."

"'Quite a few' meaning?" I asked.

"Twenty. Twenty closed spaces all materialized in the immediate area in less than an hour. Obviously, there is something troubling Suzumiya-san, because on Saturday evening, ten closed spaces materialized in a span of as many minutes as well."

"But the closed spaces have been taken care of, no?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"Yes. However, with the losses we sustained in the battle with Asakura and the interfaces, we espers have been very overworked over the past three days. I myself haven't had more than four hours of sleep over the past three days," said Koizumi dryly.

I was dumbfounded. Twenty closed spaces this afternoon, and ten last Sunday. What the hell could possibly be Haruhi's problem this time?

Wait a second. Saturday….

Ah! Saturday was the day I arrived very, very late for the SOS Brigade meeting at the train station. By three hours, no less.

"It must be because I was late last Saturday for the meet-up at the train station," I said. "Ah, sorry about that, Koizumi, but I was really tired after that near-death experience last Friday."

Even I know that I have to apologize sometimes. Even if the recipient is Koizumi. Even if I had a valid excuse to be late. But _four_ hours of sleep in three days to handle that many outbursts of Haruhi's closed spaces…

Koizumi just waved my apology aside.

"That may not be the culprit in itself, Kyon. Can you think of anything else that occurred on Saturday?"

Hmm… My date with Nagato and my visit to Haruhi's house were the only other events of that day.

"Well, Nagato and I went on our date, isn't that right?" I glanced over at Nagato and she smiled at me. "But, she was able to successfully reprogram Haruhi's view of our relationship, so in theory, that shouldn't be the problem!" I stated with confidence.

"I guess," conceded Koizumi.

"But when I went to Haruhi's house after to help her do the chores, she was also acting pretty strange. She seemed to be deep in thought while we were cleaning the living room, and she even offered to make dinner for the two of us," I said.

"Suzumiya-san really did that? She offered to cook dinner for the two of you?" asked Asahina-san.

"Yes Asahina-san, she did. Hard to believe, right?" I said.

"Not really Kyon. Remember, Suzumiya-san chose you," said Koizumi.

"Let's get real here for just a second," I said. "That incident in closed space, she thinks it was just a dream. She always treats me as nothing more than a lapdog. Lately, she's been treating even Asahina-san better than me, isn't that right Asahina-san?"

"U-uhm, yes, I guess. Suzumiya-san hasn't been forcing me to try on new costumes lately," said Asahina-san.

"Well, there you have it Koizumi," I said. "I refuse to believe that Haruhi Suzumiya is in love—" I slightly retched at the word, "—with me."

"Kyon, just because she treats you that way, we can't disregard the chance that she indeed, is in love with you. Haven't you ever heard of the saying, 'The more you hate, the more you love?'" said Koizumi.

"I have, but does that even apply to someone like Haruhi?" I replied.

"Personally, yes, I believe it does. I believe that Suzumiya-san treats you that way because you're special to her. She often does the opposite of what she feels to a person. For instance, Asahina-san —" Koizumi turned to her, "— do you remember what Suzumiya-san did to you on that day that she and Kyon disappeared? I mean, during the day before that event occurred," said Koizumi.

"I kind of remember, Koizumi-kun," replied Asahina-san. "In the clubroom that afternoon, all she did was to braid my hair. She didn't even force me to wear the maid costume, but I just wore it out of habit, I guess..."

"But as we all know, it was you and Kyon who triggered that night's event, right Asahina-san?" asked Koizumi.

"Yes, that's why the message I sent to Kyon-kun through you when they disappeared was an apology."

"So Kyon, there's your evidence. Suzumiya-san has a tendency to do nice things when she's in a bad mood, and a tendency to do things you may not like when she's in a good mood. I believe that the same bipolarity applies to her romantic feelings as well," said Koizumi.

I still didn't want to believe him, so I decided to ask Nagato what her stance was on this.

"What about you Nagato, what do you think about this entire business?"

"There is an 80% chance that Itsuki Koizumi is correct about Haruhi Suzumiya's tendencies," said Nagato. "However, we still have not pinpointed the cause of our current problems. Even I can detect the massive amounts of data she has been generating over the past few days. However, the data flares were not large enough to warrant assistance from the Integrated Data Thought Entity. That's why the esper faction was able to take care of it themselves."

"That's right, Nagato-san. Our superiors still seem to be in the mood to cooperate, no?" said Koizumi cheerfully.

"Indeed, that is the case. The Integrated Data Thought Entity believes that, at this moment, it is advantageous for our research if we align ourselves with Itsuki Koizumi's Organization of espers."

I decided to tread through unknown territory, unknown since the chances of it happening are very low, even though it would contradict my unspoken vote of confidence in Nagato's abilities earlier.

"But Nagato, have you thought about the reprogramming that you did on Haruhi? Is there any chance that you might have made some sort of mistake?" I asked.

"There is no chance whatsoever of me having made a mistake in the procedure. What we cannot be sure of is whether or not my reprogramming will hold for an extended period of time. There is a 10% chance that Haruhi Suzumiya may begin to view my relationship with you as a threat once again. In the event that she does begin to view us as a threat once more, I may have to reprogram her perception once again by pilfering some of her powers," said Nagato.

Could it be that Haruhi was jealous of Nagato? Because she was involved with me?

"So Koizumi," I said. "What you're basically saying is that there might be a small chance that the reason why Haruhi is acting like this because she's _jealous_ of Nagato?"

"That may very well be the case, Kyon-kun," said Koizumi. "So, Nagato-san, I must ask you this: Will you please make sure that your reprogramming of Suzumiya-san's perception of your relationship with Kyon still holds?"

"I will do that tomorrow, since I have to be in close proximity with Haruhi Suzumiya to obtain detailed observations," said Nagato. "However, I cannot immediately give you results. I will still have to process the raw data that I may obtain from my observations," replied Nagato.

"No problem Nagato-san. Just please let us know as soon as possible," said Koizumi. "As for you Asahina-san, please try not to get too close with Kyon for the time being. We do not want to give more reasons for Suzumiya-san to fall into a foul mood."

"Okay, Koizumi-kun, I'll do that," said Asahina-san. "Sorry Kyon-kun, looks like our date will have to wait for a bit."

Koizumi's head swiveled at the word 'date.' His eyes hovered over to Asahina-san, then to me. He was looking at me as though he was trying to bore his way through solid rock with that stare. Asahina-san clapped her hands over her mouth and gasped.

"W-What?" I asked. "Nagato gave her permission Koizumi, you don't have to get so uptight about who I'm going out with."

He relaxed and smiled. Asahina-san gave off a huge and audible sigh.

"Sorry about that Kyon," said Koizumi.

He then stood up.

"Well, that's it everyone. So that's the plan. Tomorrow, Nagato-san will observe Suzumiya-san and let us know about her findings as soon as possible."

"Understood," said Nagato.

"Alright Nagato-san, thank you for having Asahina-san and myself over. We'll be going now," said Koizumi.

"Good night Yuki-san, Kyon-kun," said Asahina-san.

The two of them left, leaving me and Nagato alone in her apartment room.

* * *

"Hey Nagato, I better go now. See you tomorrow," I said.

Then, something that Nagato did took me by surprise. So surprised that I was rooted to the spot because of her actions.

She shook her head and said,

"No Kyon. I still want you to stay with me. Could you do that for me?" asked Nagato.

I recovered immediately and said,

"Of course I can. I can stay for a little while longer."

"Actually Kyon, I want you to spend the night here. With me," said Nagato.

What!? Spend the night _here_? _In_ _Nagato's_ _room_!? It's not that the idea isn't appealing to me, but what on earth will my parents think if I did that?

"There is no need to panic Kyon. Do not forget, I am adept at manipulating data. I have made it so your parents believe that you are on a study sleepover with me. After all, you do need help with your English literature, is that correct?"

She winked at me and I couldn't help but laugh at her cuteness.

"You've got a point there. So, when shall we begin with the studying?" I asked.

"Oh no Kyon, there will be no studying here tonight. I just want to spend this time with you, undisturbed by the presence of other humans. You are mine, and I want to enjoy this," said Nagato.

Oh. Must be her reprogramming of her attribute data that… Ugh, nevermind… I guess she's exhibiting her emotional side once again. We are alone after all, so I guess that's okay.

Nagato stood up and said,

"Please follow me Kyon."

She walked out of the dining room into a side room that I had set foot in once before. It was the room where she had frozen time with me and Asahina-san inside to compensate for the loss of Asahina-san's Time Plane Destruction Device, back during that time that we went back in time so I could help the younger Haruhi in vandalizing the grounds of East Junior High.

"I do not need to sleep, but I have gathered that people close to each other like to sleep side-by-side in a warm bed," said Nagato. "I wish to enjoy this experience with you."

She had no idea how loud my heart seemed to be thumping right now. Well, she probably knew, but was ignoring it. I was going to go to be beside Nagato in bed! It's like a moment from an American movie!

"If you wish to take a bath, you can use the shower room over there," she gestured to a door that was partly hidden in an alcove by the window.

The view from her bedroom was great. I could sit down on the tatami mats beside Nagato and watch the full moon from here all night if I felt like it.

I decided to take a quick shower. Can't be smelly when you're going to sleep beside the one you love…

* * *

When I stepped out of the shower, towel around my waist, steam followed me into the room. It was, after all, a cold night, and I wanted to take advantage of the heating system.

"Oh sorry about that Naga—"

My words were cut off at what I saw. Nagato was standing there, her sailor uniform discarded for a pair of light blue pajamas that had pictures of bunny rabbits all over it. My heart nearly melted at the sight of her. She looked so cute!

"What's the matter Kyon? Is what I'm wearing offending you?" she asked.

"N-no, it's not that. You just look really, really _cute_!" I said joviantly.

I rushed over to where she was and hugged her. She hugged me back, but immediately let go.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Kyon. You're still wearing just a towel."

My face went completely red and Nagato giggled.

"Oh! S-sorry about that," I said. "But I don't have any extra clothing on me. I can't just wear what I was wearing when I came over here, right?"

"Though your choice of clothing does not really matter to me, if you wish, look inside the closet. You will find matching pajamas that are of your size," said Nagato.

Man, she really thinks of everything. I went to the closet, took the aforementioned pajamas out, and dressed up inside the bathroom. When I was dressed, I went back to the bedroom, turning the lights off in the bathroom as I did so. I wondered vaguely how I looked wearing these pajamas with bunny rabbits all over it.

"Shall we go to bed now Kyon?" asked Nagato.

I looked at my watch. Nine-thirty in the evening. It's already been two-and-a-half hours since I got the phone call from Nagato that called me over here. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to sleep this early.

"Sure Nagato."

We lay down in bed, side by side, with moonlight shining on the two of us. After a moment's silence, she rolled over beside me and put her arms around my waist.

"I love you Kyon," she whispered.

"I love you too… Yuki," I replied.

And just like that, arms around each other in bed, I drifted off into dreamland, wishing this moment would never end.

* * *

I thought about the bookmark Yuki left for Kyon earlier today. I was wracked with jealousy at the thought. Is this really happening to me?

I paced around in my room, endlessly thinking about Kyon. I looked up at the clock on the wall. The time read twelve midnight. I still couldn't sleep. I was too troubled about this whole business.

How long can I keep this up? Sooner or later, the Brigade is going to suspect something. I can't have that! They'll see me at my weakest moment. As the Brigade commander, I always have to exude strength, and not weakness.

I looked at my dresser mirror. A lithe young lady stared back at me with troubled eyes. Has my body really grown this much since junior high? Wouldn't Kyon want this…

Stop being so ridiculous Haruhi! You are _not_ in love with Kyon!

_How can you be so sure of that?_

Huh? Who said that?

_I did_.

I stared at the mirror and my reflection seemed to be doing the talking.

"Who are you?" I asked.

_I am you, Haruhi. But, I am the side of you that's more in touch with your feelings._

"Really now. Prove that you're me and not some slider trying to mess around with me."

_Alright, I will. You kissed Kyon in one of your dreams. Well Haruhi, it wasn't a dream. It really happened, though I don't know exactly how it came to be._

Oh crap she knows. I guess she really must be a part of me. Maybe I'm just delusional from all the stress. Ah, I don't care! As long as it helps me resolve the problem, it'll do.

"So it really wasn't a dream…"

_Yes, it wasn't. Now Haruhi, go be true to yourself if you really want to know how you feel about Kyon._

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked.

_Duh. Ask him out on a date tomorrow. Tell the other Brigade members that there isn't going to be a meeting tomorrow, and go sneak out after school with Kyon, so no one will realize that you two are going on a date._

"What about Kyon and Y-Yuki?"

_Nevermind them. You do realize that, if you really do like Kyon, then Yuki is going to be your greatest archnemesis. Besides, all is fair in love and war, right?_

"I guess," I conceded. "But I won't let this be the cause of dissent and division in my SOS Brigade!"

_If you say so_…

Suddenly, my reflection fell silent. I guess that moment of delusion was over. Now I know what I'm going to do tomorrow.

I'm going on a date with Kyon!

* * *

_A/N: The part with Haruhi talking to herself in the mirror was inspired by Sia and Kikyou from _Shuffle! _I hope that the scene with Nagato and Kyon in bed didn't cause diabetes for anyone._ _Read and review please! :D_


	5. Confirmation

**Confirmation**

_*ring*_

_*ring*_

_*ring*_

Mmmrrmppphh… Is it morning already?

"Wake up. It is already morning. You should not be late for school, or Haruhi Suzumiya will think that something is amiss."

Nagato? Is that you? Five more minutes please.

All of a sudden, I felt my head rapped with enough force to jolt me.

"Ouch! You didn't have to hit me so hard!"

"My apologies, but you _must_ get up Kyon," said Nagato.

I opened my bleary eyes and surveyed my surroundings. I was still in Nagato's bedroom, and when I rolled towards the window, the sun's blinding rays struck my eyes so hard that I was momentarily blinded.

"Gah!" I gasped. "Too.. Bright."

In an instant, the light was extinguished. I opened my eyes and saw Nagato dash back to the bed from the window. Apparently, she closed the curtains when she heard me.

"Thanks," I said. "But what am I going to wear to school? All I have are my soiled clothes from yesterday."

"It is of no consequence. Your clothing has already been laundered," she said, while gesturing to the closet.

Indeed, there lay my school uniform, but it wasn't as dirty as it was yesterday. Man Nagato, you think of everything.

"Remember, my specialty is data manipulation," she said.

As she said that, she winked at me mischievously. Since when does Nagato do all these things anyway? Is this the effect of our relationship on her? Talk about character development.

I unsteadily got to my feet and took my clothing from the closet, excused myself, and went to the bathroom to dress up. While hurriedly putting my clothes on, I thought of Haruhi, and how strangely she's been acting lately. No matter. Nagato would spend the day observing Haruhi, and no doubt she'll find a solution to the problem, similar to what she performed the last time we considered Haruhi's jealousy.

After dressing up at a speed that could rival Clark Kent, I stepped out of the bathroom, ready to leave for school. Nagato was already wearing her sailor uniform when she woke me up, so she was just waiting for me.

"We must leave now. School is about to begin, and we both have things to do today," said Nagato.

What? I know that Nagato's supposed to monitor Haruhi today, but me too? What am I supposed to be doing today?

"You'll see," said Nagato.

With that reply, I just nodded and turned all the lights out in the bedroom. We then locked up the room and left the apartment complex for North High.

* * *

_I'm going on a date with Kyon today!_ I wonder if I should wear something for the occasion.

I looked in the mirror and I saw Haruhi Suzumiya stare back at me with a bright smile. I guess I'm really excited since I'm going out with Kyon. Whether he likes it or not.

Mmph. I'm better off not bringing any fancy clothing for this date. I still need Kyon to believe that this is all in the name of official SOS Brigade business, and not because I actually want to go out with him.

Seriously, do I really want to go out with him? Damn, I'm so confused. Enough. Time to go to school.

As I left the house, I organized my thoughts. Why am I excited about this? Is it because I really do want to go out with him, or is it because I'm excited to find out what I truly feel about him?

_A mixture of both feelings_. That's the truth. A part of me really does seem to like Kyon. The question is, does the rest of me agree with that? I guess this date is for me to find out.

As I crossed the railroad tracks near my house, I remembered that day when Kyon introduced me to a small child who lived nearby. Said he needed help with his schoolwork. Kyon... His kindness is amazing, isn't it? A total stranger such as that little boy was saved from academic failure. He even told the kid to do well in school, because he would grow up to do great things. What an inspiration. Because of Kyon, whenever that kid has trouble with his schoolwork, I go over to his house to tutor him.

I know Kyon always grumbles about the things I make him do, but I have to admit that, deep inside, he's really a kind person. Maybe he'd show that side to me more often if I drop this façade I'm giving him and the rest of the Brigade.

_No. Not just yet. I still have to confirm what I truly feel about Kyon before deciding on whether or not I will drop the façade of aloofness that I present to them._

I was shaken out of my thoughts when I almost tripped across a large pebble that was lying in the middle of the road. What the hell is that thing doing here anyway?

_If Kyon were with me, would he have caught me to prevent me from falling?_

I brushed the thought aside. _We'll see what my date with him later in the day will reveal_.

I looked up and saw North High steadily approaching. I just have to get through class, make an excuse for Mikuru-chan, Koizumi-kun, and Y-Yuki-chan, then I'm off to my date with Kyon. If I can pull this off, it's gonna be the perfect plan.

* * *

When Nagato and I reached the gates of North High, she pulled my sleeve and hurriedly whispered something in my ear so quickly that I didn't catch everything that she said.

"… is here. I must go quickly… begin.. observation.. Suzumiya," she had whispered very quickly. Then, she disappeared.

I was left dumbfounded and rooted to the spot when suddenly, someone rapped my head with enough force to annoy me. I turned to whoever it was, expecting Taniguchi, but when I saw who it was, boy was I surprised.

"Damn it Tani—Oh. It's you Haruhi," I said.

"What's with that tone Kyon? You shouldn't speak to your Brigade commander like that!" she snapped.

Oh boy, here we go again.

"I was expecting that idiot Taniguchi again, but I guess you took me by surprise, Haruhi."

"That idiot Taniguchi? Oh yeah, he's an idiot. He's been one for as long as I've known him. I don't even know why I said 'yes' when he asked me out that one time in junior high… Though I did tell him five minutes after that I wasn't interested in someone as boring as him," said Haruhi.

"Oh yeah, Taniguchi told me about that on the first day of class during our first year," I said.

We entered the school building and climbed up the stairs that led to our classroom. Once again, Haruhi broke the silence.

"Why would that idiot Taniguchi tell you about one of his most embarrassing moments in junior high?" asked Haruhi.

"You do remember that I was the first guy to talk to you, right?" I said. "Naturally, I was curious about you Haruhi. Though I probably bit off more than I could chew…"

"What was that Kyon?" said Haruhi as she grabbed my tie.

"N-nothing!" I said.

We finally reached the classroom and we took our seats at the back of the class, Haruhi having fallen silent after I feebly persuaded her to let go of my tie.

* * *

When Kyon and I finally sat down, I was still in shock.

_He was asking questions about me. Even on that very first day of school._

Needless to say, I was happy that Kyon wanted to know more about me as early as the first day of school. Maybe I should cut him some slack when we have more of our activities…

_No! You have to keep the façade up until you're sure you really like this guy._

Fine. Maybe I'll be nice to him later when I force him into going out with me. Ah, here comes our sensei. Endure Haruhi, endure. Then you'll have your reward later with Kyon.

I smiled at the thought.

* * *

As the bell rang to signal the end of the last period of the day, I looked behind me and saw that Haruhi was slumped on her desk, in deep sleep. Well, well, this is strange. She normally ends up falling asleep whenever we have exams, but not during our lessons. Oftentimes, she's awake, thinking about her next activities for the SOS Brigade, activities that will, without a doubt, leave me and Asahina-san ragged and exhausted.

I considered leaving Haruhi there and making a quick escape, so I wouldn't have to put up with her melancholy today, but thought better of it. I remembered the mission that Koizumi had given Nagato the night before.

"_Will you please make sure that your reprogramming of Suzumiya-san's perception of your relationship with Kyon still holds?"_

It's better for Nagato to get this whole thing over with. Then we can stop hiding our feelings for each other just like before.

I prodded Haruhi gently, and she responded by involuntarily swatting my hand away. I prodded her again and she said something that shocked me.

"K-Kyon-kun... Go out… With me…"

Oh no. Don't tell me Koizumi really is telling the truth? Does she really like me? I really, _really_ hope that Nagato's manipulation still holds, or else we'll definitely be in deep trouble. I considered the potential situation that would arise: Haruhi Suzumiya having romantic feelings for me.

It actually wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that I was already in love with Nagato. Sorry Haruhi, I love Nagato, though I must admit that you're a special person in your own right. What with your near-omnipotency, even though you don't know about it…

I discarded all these thoughts with another thought that stated things, plain as day.

I love Yuki Nagato, and no one else.

My apologies, Haruhi.

I decided to finally wake her up, so we could get started with the afternoon's SOS Brigade meeting.

"Yo. Haruhi. Wake up already. As the Brigade commander, shouldn't it be your responsibility to be in the clubroom early?"

She stirred feebly and looked up at me. She saw my face, and immediately frowned. Yes, I was giving her that sarcastic look just so I could shake off the shock from what she muttered in her sleep.

"Yeah, yeah Kyon, let's go. We'll only stop at the clubroom for a short while, and then we'll go conduct our search for anything mysterious outdoors," said Haruhi.

Man, does she rival Karin Sasamori (_A/N: Karin Sasamori is the president of the Mystery Club in _ToHeart2) or what? She's really obsessed with these plans to search for mysterious people and events.

We left the classroom and proceeded to the clubroom in silence. When the clubroom door finally stood before us, she made to barge into the room without warning, as usual. As I was about to enter the room though, she motioned for me to stay outside.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Just do it Kyon," she snapped.

So I waited outside the clubroom, without knowing what to expect. Strangely, I didn't hear anything going on inside the clubroom. What could they possibly be discussing?

After five minutes, the door opened, and Koizumi and Asahina-san exited the clubroom.

"Hey Koizumi, what's going on?"

"Oh, Suzumiya-san gave me, Asahina-san, and Nagato-san the day off. So we're going now. However, I trust that Nagato-san will remember the mission we discussed last night."

"My superiors have informed me that I'm n-not supposed to be anywhere near Suzumiya-san this afternoon," said Asahina-san.

"Well, that's settled, I guess," I said. "I hope Nagato gets some conclusive information about this whole business. You guys have no idea how hard it is to keep this thing we're having hidden."

Koizumi just shrugged his shoulders, and Asahina-san said,

"Good luck to you and Yuki-san!"

Then, they proceeded downstairs to exit the building. When the two of them left my sight, the door opened once more, and Nagato came out.

"Kyon, please be prepared for what Haruhi Suzumiya wishes to do this afternoon. However, do not worry, because I will be in the immediate vicinity during the entire duration of the activity," said Nagato.

"What would this activity be? Searching for more mysterious events?" I asked.

To my surprise, a sour look appeared on Nagato's face, and she just said,

"Good luck, Kyon. Take these."

She handed me an earphone and a lapel that was so small that I could pin it to my collar and no one would notice without looking too closely.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"Insert the earphone into your ear, and pin the lapel to your shirt. I may need to communicate with you without Haruhi Suzumiya noticing while the activity is underway," replied Nagato.

"Okay. Thanks," I said.

With that, she proceeded downstairs, presumably to look for a good vantage point to observe Haruhi. I gave off a huge sigh, and entered the clubroom. Haruhi was just sitting there in her chair behind that computer she had pilfered from the Computer Club so long ago.

"So Haruhi, where do we begin our citywide search for the mysterious?" I scornfully asked.

"We aren't doing any of those things today," she said. "Kyon, you're going out on a date. With me."

* * *

I just looked at Kyon's face when I uttered those words. The look of blank shock on his face was priceless. Why I told him that this wasn't SOS Brigade business was a decision I made up on the spot. Maybe he won't feel so grudging if he knows it's a date and not another one of those searches that he despises.

"You're kidding Haruhi," he said.

"No Kyon, I'm not kidding. We're going out on a date. Alright, since I'm feeling like a nice Brigade commander today, I'll let you decide on where to go first. And _no_, you can't say that you want to go home."

"Uhm… Let's go to the park, I guess. Maybe walk around, or something…"

Not bad. Here was an opportunity to stroll around with Kyon, in a very relaxing setting. Maybe with this set-up, I could finally decipher and organize exactly what I've been feeling for Kyon.

"Alright Kyon, to the park it is! And don't forget, you're paying for dinner, since I made dinner for you last Saturday," I said.

* * *

Why, oh why did I suggest the park? With such an open space at our hands, it wouldn't be easy for Nagato to keep an eye on the two of us. I'll just have to hope and pray that she could find cover among the shrubbery present there.

As for the date itself… I might as well enjoy it. I am helping Nagato out here right? This should make her observations return more concrete data, for us to proceed with a conclusive solution should her manipulation fail.

With a jolt, I remembered her face when she stepped out of the clubroom. No wonder she had that sour look on her face.

I nervously fingered the lapel that was now pinned to the underside of my collar. Since Nagato asked me to put this on, she must have a good reason to want to communicate with me while I'm on this date with Haruhi. And as for Nagato, since she was so good at data manipulation, she could've turned invisible for all I know.

Speaking of Haruhi…She kept talking about how nice it was here at the park, watching the little children play with their friends, their mothers running around, trying to keep them in check. I just listened to her ramble on about random things. After all, it was the duty of the Brigade members to keep Haruhi in check, to prevent the formation of closed space.

She pointed at one such mother and said,

"Hey Kyon, you might make a great mother."

"Eeh? What the heck do you mean by that?" I asked.

"It's just that… You seem to always be running around when we have SOS Brigade activities," she said in a soft voice. "Maybe I should just…"

"What are you trying to say, Haruhi? If you want to say something, say it already. It's unhealthy to keep those kinds of things to yourself," I said, quoting her from not so long ago.

"T-that's a Brigade commander's secret Kyon, and a lowly peon such as yourself has no right to know all about it!" she snapped.

I decided to play along, and I said,

"Okay, okay, whatever."

"Say Kyon, where do you wanna go next?"

As much as I'd normally say I'd want to go home, I didn't voice that out so as not to upset Haruhi. Strangely, she wasn't so unpleasant right now. In fact, as much as I hated to admit it, I was actually enjoying her company.

"Let's go to the mall, shall we? We don't have any activities for tomorrow, so I guess we can afford to go to the mall today."

"Sure Kyon. But we better be back before it's eight in the evening. I don't want Brigade members being tired from lack of sleep. You guys need all the energy for our upcoming activities!" she said enthusiastically.

With that, she let go of my arm and she ran like a small child to the mall. After a few meters, she turned to me, called for me to hurry up, and sped off ahead of me. Soon, she was so far and out of earshot that she'd probably wonder why I wasn't following her. She's really excited, isn't she?

"Yes, she seems to be," said a voice.

I turned to the bush behind me, and Nagato emerged from her hiding place.

"So Nagato, how goes the observations?" I asked.

"It seems that I may really have to once again reprogram her perception of us. I could feel her heart rate speed up every time you talked to her, no matter what you said," said Nagato.

"Erm, yeah, about that, Nagato… Is this really okay with you?" I asked tentatively.

"It is alright. The situation you present to her is ideal for my data gathering. As much as I do not like what she is doing, I intend to use the situation to further our goals," said Nagato. "Itsuki Koizumi should be happy with the results we are giving him."

"Koizumi better be. Anyway Nagato, good luck with everything," I said. "I better catch up with Haruhi now."

I leaned towards her, pecked her gently on the lips, and left her standing there. After a short while, when I turned to look back, Nagato was gone.

* * *

As I ran towards the mall, I realized that I had left Kyon behind at the park. I turned in the middle of the street and saw him in the distance, running, trying to catch up with me.

_Should I present the same old façade to him, even now?_

Maybe you can go easy on him this time. It _is_ a date, after all.

I decided to intercept Kyon, and not wait for him. I ran back toward him, and when we met, he was panting and sweating profusely.

"Kyon, what took you so long?" I asked.

"N-nothing, Haruhi," replied Kyon. "Let's get to the mall now, can we? I need that airconditioning right now so bad…"

I obliged and we slowly walked the remaining distance to the mall, taking our time, not in any hurry whatsoever.

"Hey, Haruhi."

"What?" I said.

"Not that I'm asking for one, but how come I didn't get a penalty for not keeping up with you?" asked Kyon.

"I, er, t-that's… Hey, stop asking those kinds of questions!" I said. "It's up to me whether or not I want to give you a penalty, and I just didn't feel like it."

"Okay then," said Kyon.

Does he notice? That I'm being nicer than usual to him? Maybe I should drop the Brigade façade entirely and shock him with just how nice Haruhi Suzumiya can be…

_Are you sure that you like him?_

Yeah, I'm sure. He's speeding up my heart rate, for Pete's sake. This may be teenage infatuation, but oh, I didn't care. Right now, my insides were screaming, 'Hey Kyon, guess what? I like you!'

_Alright, go show him your true personality. Surprise him. If he hasn't been already…_

After a short while, we finally arrived at the mall.

"Say Kyon, what exactly do you want to do here?" I asked.

"Hmm, maybe we can go play games at the arcade, then have a quick dinner. Is that okay, Haruhi?"

"Of course it is, Kyon. Let's go have some fun at the arcade!" I replied enthusiastically.

* * *

Nothing shocked me more than Haruhi right now. It's as if the Brigade commander side of her disappeared the moment we set foot in the mall.

Earlier, we played percussion games at the arcade. Those games that we had to hit drums at just the right rhythm to get a high score. Haruhi scored high on those, while I did really terrible. Those really weren't my kind of games anyway.

So I told her, "Hey, Haruhi, watch me play _Tekken_ over here."

She obliged, and she watched me kick the AI's ass for a few rounds. After a short while, someone finally challenged me.

I got my ass handed to me. Badly. In the last round, before I finally gave up, I didn't even damage my opponent at all. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see who had beaten me, and I stood up and went to the other side of the machine.

I saw a short, blue-haired girl, whose hair fell to below her waist, sitting at the opposite side of the machine.

I almost jumped due to shock. Haruhi noticed my stunned look and said,

"Beaten by a kid, Kyon. Heh…"

I gave her a dark look and said,

"Enough games, I guess. Let's go eat."

So that's how we ended up here at McDonald's. She said that she wanted to eat some fast food, for a change, and I obliged. Nothing wrong with wanting to eat a few burgers, right?

"Hey Kyon, can I have some more of your fries?" she asked.

"But you still have some of yours! Come on Haruhi, leave me some fries here," I objected.

"Hey, I'm your Brigade commander, Kyon. It's my right to get some of your food."

Whatever. Just… Do whatever you want, Haruhi.

"Thanks Kyon. Okay, I'll just get one piece, alright?"

I nodded and got some fries for myself as well. However, we both decided to get fries from my pile at the same time, and our hands brushed across each other gently.

I felt Haruhi freeze, and I pretended not to notice. Nagato, I think we really have to do something about this.

"I know Kyon, I know," said Nagato through the earphone.

* * *

Stupid hormones. Am I really acting this jumpy because I like Kyon? And when our hands touched, I just… I dunno… Froze.

I couldn't do anything about it. You could say that I was paralyzed out of shock. But no, it really is because I like this guy here.

Okay, I have to compose myself right now or else my cover will be blown.

"Hey Kyon, I'm going to the bathroom, okay?" I said.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he replied distractedly.

Maybe I just have to wash my face and take a moment to breathe. Then I wouldn't be acting like this.

* * *

"Nagato, can't you do anything about this right now? It's getting really uncomfortable for me here," I said.

"I'm sorry Kyon, but I can only perform the manipulation on her when I am in close proximity to her."

"Can't you just turn yourself invisible or something and come over here and do it now?" I asked.

"I am not powerful enough to do those two things at the same time. It will have to wait until tomorrow, Kyon," replied Nagato through the earphone.

"Okay, okay then," I said. "Oh Nagato, I don't think I'll be able to take you home tonight. I'm already tired. Is that alright?"

"It is okay. Just get your rest as soon as you arrive at your home," said Nagato.

"Thanks," I said.

"Hey Kyon, just who are you talking to anyway?"

I almost jumped out of my seat. Oh crap, Haruhi's back! How long had she been standing there?

"N-no one. I'm just talking to myself," I nervously said.

"Really. Then how come I heard Yuki's name?"

"I, uh, that's… What's it to you anyway?" I angrily asked. "She's my _girlfriend_ after all Haruhi, so I have every right to talk to her on the phone whenever I please."

Oh shit, did I just say that? I looked up at Haruhi when I said that and saw that her face had turned a bright red. Even if I hid the fact that I had a lapel and earphone on me, that didn't help me at all.

"T-that's true, I guess," mumbled Haruhi. "I, uh, Kyon, thanks for g-going out with me today. I'm g-going home now."

Then, in a flash, she ran away from me. Many heads turned in the restaurant towards my direction, and I thought I heard a sob as she disappeared from my sight. The people glared at me with the full might of God's authority on their faces. I really couldn't blame them. I made a girl cry, after all.

I put my head in my hands and thought,

_What have I done? Kyon you idiot!_

Right on cue, my phone rang. It was Koizumi, as expected.

"Kyon, head over to Nagato's place from wherever you are straightaway. We have a huge problem on our hands."

I sighed. How stupid could I have gotten?

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the long wait before this update. It is Christmas, after all, and I haven't had enough time to write lately. So I apologize for the delay. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone out there who can read this. Read and review please!_


	6. Love's Stupor

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise. Credits go to Nagaru Tanigawa._

_

* * *

_

**Love's Stupor**

I dropped Koizumi's call and immediately left McDonald's for Nagato's apartment complex, silently cursing myself due to my magnificent stupidity.

Why, _why_, oh why did I explicitly tell Haruhi that Nagato was my girlfriend? I mean, I already saw the signs that Haruhi liked me, so why did I not take heed of the impending danger that would come into being if and when Haruhi hears it from me that Nagato and I were together?

In a flash, I knew. I was in denial. I didn't want to accept the fact that Haruhi liked me. Even after the, I must admit, more knowledgeable Koizumi told me this. Even after Asahina-san kept preventing the two of us from getting close to each other.

Even after Nagato herself considered the impact of our relationship on Haruhi. And lastly, even when Haruhi herself kept giving me blatant signs today.

After a short while, I was already at the gates of Nagato's place, having run the entire way from the mall. As I looked at the tall, dark building that towered over me, I could see in my mind's eye the stern looks on the faces of Koizumi, Asahina-san, and even Nagato. I hung my head and I knew that I would accept any and all flak they would give me for this like a man.

When I stepped into the lobby, no one was waiting for me there. Apparently, they were all irritated at me for my stupidity. Nagato had stopped contacting me via the earphone and lapel, both of which were now located within my trouser pockets.

I grudgingly made my way to Room 708, and pressed the intercom button.

"… Uh… It's me," I muttered.

The door swung open, and Nagato stood in the doorway, her eyes perfectly neutral as she set her eyes on me. I made to enter the room, but suddenly she held me back and said,

"A moment, Kyon."

"What is it Nagato?" I whispered.

"Though your actions were not supportive of my duty, I want to take this opportunity right now to thank you for declaring that I was your, as you humans call it, girlfriend. This does not make our job any easier than it is at the moment, but still, thank you, Kyon," whispered Nagato.

"You're welcome, I guess," I replied. "But I'm still sorry for the trouble that I caused."

"We are now working to rectify the problem as we speak. Come, let us discuss our plans with the other two in the room," said Nagato.

Upon entering Nagato's living room, I saw the looks on both Koizumi and Asahina-san. Asahina-san looked reserved, and Koizumi looked, dare I say it, _angry_.

"Look guys, I'm sor—"

"Kyon. Do you realize what you've caused?" said Koizumi angrily. "The world could be reconstructed anytime now! Nagato-san, please give Kyon the numbers."

"It is as Itsuki Koizumi says. The probability that Haruhi Suzumiya will reconstruct the world is at a second all-time high of 70%," said Nagato.

"Wait a second. Second all-time high? So the first was when we—" I slightly coughed, "—kissed in closed space?" I asked.

"No Kyon. The all-time high was in the event that, had you not been resurrected by Nagato-san's superior, there was a 98% chance that Suzumiya-san would reconstruct the world," replied Koizumi.

"Oh," was all I could say. I turned to Asahina-san, and said,

"Uh, Asahina-san, isn't there a way for you to send me back just one hour into the past so I can prevent all of this?"

"I'm sorry Kyon-kun, but when I contacted my superior, I was told that this was a predetermined event," replied Asahina-san. "So please, Koizumi-kun—" she turned to Koizumi, "—don't be so angry at Kyon-kun. This event was meant to happen, so it's not really his fault, isn't it?"

"Asahina-san, I'm sorry, but I don't really put much trust in your superiors as compared to my superiors," replied Koizumi.

Ah. So Koizumi wasn't angry at me, but at _Asahina-san_, for defending my stupidity. I'm going to owe her a lot this for this.

"But of course, Asahina-san, it's nothing personal," said Koizumi.

"I understand, K-Koizumi-kun. Our organizations have their differences, so I guess this dissent was also a predetermined event," replied Asahina-san.

"Okay, enough everyone," I said. "Since this is my fault, let's just set our organizational differences aside and get down to business."

Koizumi and Asahina-san looked at each other and nodded. Nagato didn't respond at all, since the Integrated Data Thought Entity seems to be getting along with the Espers and Time Travelers.

"Alright Kyon, let's do it. Here's the problem: We have every single remaining esper in the Organization on patrol right now for any more closed spaces that may pop up. In the last fifteen minutes since I called you, there have been around fifty instances of closed space appearing in the general vicinity, with a new closed space appearing every forty-five seconds. I called up Asahina-san and Nagato-san and requested for a meeting here. Nagato-san told me what had transpired, and then I contacted you Kyon," said Koizumi.

"What about Haruhi? I know I shouldn't have said that but…." I trailed off into silence. "Are any of you monitoring her?"

"I have placed surveillance devices in her home without her knowledge," said Nagato.

"Really? When did you bug Haruhi's house?" I asked.

"Sunday, the day after we had our date," answered Nagato. "I proceeded to Haruhi Suzumiya's home in the dead of night, and I planted a multitude of surveillance devices in her home, so I could gather more data. Then, when Itsuki Koizumi entrusted to me the mission of observing her to determing whether or not I would have to reprogram her perception of us for the second time, the surveillance devices gave me a general idea of what I was to expect. That is also how I knew that she would ask you out on a date today."

I digested this and said,

"So, is it possible for us to watch tape of the past few days?" I asked.

Nagato nodded and Koizumi said,

"We should watch and look out for significant aberrations in Suzumiya-san's actions during the past few days, so we can know better how to proceed with damage control."

Asahina-san and I nodded. Nagato stood up, went to her bedroom, and returned with two DVDs.

"These disks have her actions recorded for the days of Sunday and Monday," said Nagato.

"We should watch the Sunday tape first," said Koizumi.

Nagato nodded and went to her bedroom once again. She returned, carrying a bulky DVD player _and_ a television in her hands .

Immediately, I stood up and made for her, in order to help her carry the bulky objects. Koizumi noticed and said,

"Really Kyon, this is Nagato-san we're talking about here."

Asahina-san just giggled and I sighed.

"Well, so sorry for being chivalrous," I snapped.

Koizumi chuckled and said, once the DVD player had been set up by Nagato,

"We better watch the recording of Sunday first," said Koizumi.

The DVD containing the recording for Sunday proved to be an uneventful one. Apparently, Haruhi had awoken up late at night to take a bath for some unknown reason. Thus, when she was about to enter her room from the bathroom in the recording, I felt a pair of hands fly around my eyes, with red hair whirring around me.

"What the… Asahina-san, what's gotten into you?" I exclaimed.

"Sorry Kyon-kun, but I predicted it perfectly: Suzumiya-san isn't wearing anything in the video," said Asahina-san.

"Oh. Hey, what about Koizumi? Doesn't he get to have his eyes covered as well?" I asked scornfully.

"Don't worry Kyon, Nagato-san covered my eyes as well," chuckled Koizumi. "But, does that mean you want to see Suzumiya-san in the nude?"

"No way!" I exclaimed. Then, the next thing that happened had me laughing so hard that I felt like my stomach would burst.

"Ouch! Nagato-san, that hurts! Please take your hands off of my eyes," shouted Koizumi.

Asahina-san clapped her hands over her mouth, and I looked at Koizumi and Nagato. Koizumi was rubbing his eyes, and Nagato just said,

"Sorry."

I laughed again. Your fault Koizumi, not mine.

"I guess so Kyon. I should know better than to say such things to you with Nagato-san around," said Koizumi dryly.

Without anything more exciting happening, the DVD that contained the recordings for Sunday came to an abrupt stop. Nagato stood up and wordlessly inserted the disk that contained Monday's recordings.

We watched the DVD for quite a while, skipping the uneventful parts. Then, after an hour of watching the DVD, that one hour having been punctuated by endless phone calls to Koizumi, I saw something that caught my eye and made for Nagato to rewind the DVD.

"A bit more… Just a bit more… There!" I exclaimed. "Look at this guys. Haruhi is pacing around in her room, and is talking. The audio quality of the disk isn't so great. Who could she be talking to?"

Nagato started to mutter what Asahina-san had dubbed "incantations," and all of a sudden, the audio became crystal clear, as though Haruhi was in the room with us. I gave a nod of thanks, and proceeded to listen to what Haruhi was saying.

"… _Who said that?" said Haruhi._

"…"

"_Who are you?" she asked._

"…"

"_Really now. Prove that you're me and not some slider trying to mess around with me," said Haruhi._

"_... She knows… So it really wasn't a dream…," whispered Haruhi._

"Nagato-san, please pause the video right there," said Koizumi.

She obliged, and Koizumi spoke once more,

"Suzumiya-san said, 'So it really wasn't a dream.' Could she possibly be referring to that incident that Kyon hates talking about so much?"

I gulped.

"Even for Suzumiya-san, given our theory that she likes Kyon, only something as monumental as that incident would be enough to be forever stamped on her mind. If this is true, then she knows that wasn't a dream. I believe that this is the point where she acknowledges her feelings for Kyon. But before we come to any more conclusions, we should continue watching tape. Nagato-san, please continue."

Nagato unpaused and we resumed watching tape.

"_How am I supposed to do that?" said Haruhi._

"…"

"_What about Kyon and Y-Yuki?" asked Haruhi._

"Nagato, please stop the tape there," I said. She obliged.

"Apparently, Nagato-san, you may really, really, have to repeat what you did to Suzumiya-san again. The anxiety in her voice when she mentioned your name… She recognizes you as a love rival for Kyon. I suggest that you do it as soon as possible, to minimize the closed spaces that are sprouting up after Kyon's mishap today," said Koizumi.

Nagato nodded, and unpaused the DVD.

"_I guess… But I won't let this be the cause of dissent and division in my SOS Brigade! I'm going on a date with Kyon!_"_said Haruhi._

After that point, we just watched Haruhi go to sleep, and after ten minutes, we stopped the tape.

"Things are hopefully aren't as bad as we initially thought," said Koizumi. "Though she now views Nagato-san as a rival for you, she said that she wouldn't let it be the cause of dissent within the SOS Brigade. But now, after your mistake, Kyon, who knows if she'll still hold herself to that?"

Suddenly, Nagato spoke,

"Surveillance at her house is still ongoing. I suggest that we watch it live so we can formulate a plan of action."

"Agreed. Nagato-san, please set up the live feed for us," said Koizumi.

She nodded and went to the room, only to emerge carrying a length of cable which she then inserted into the television. The live feed from Haruhi's house appeared on the television, and I was stunned at what I saw and heard on the television screen.

"_Now I know what I truly feel about Kyon, but I'm not happy about it. It's all because of Yuki," said Haruhi._

The live feed was coming from her bedroom. Haruhi was there, still wearing her school uniform, pacing around her room, and she was crying. I wonder what she feels about Nagato now…

"_I love Kyon, and so does Yuki. But Yuki's my friend too… I can't just watch them be together; I know I can't take that," said Haruhi. "I must be so embarrassing… If the Brigade could see me right now…"_

At that, we all turned to face each other. Asahina-san gasped. Koizumi said,

"That _has_ to be a coincidence. She isn't self-aware yet, so we can relax."

"_I-I don't know what to do anymore… K-Kyon… I really do love you… If only… You could… Hear_—"

Suddenly, Haruhi just collapsed onto the floor. Oh shit!

"Oh my God! We have to get there as soon as we can!" exclaimed Koizumi.

Asahina-san fainted. Nagato suddenly spoke, and what she said was not very reassuring,

"Haruhi Suzumiya has entered the state of unconsciousness. Right now, I'm detecting massive amounts of data being generated. The chance of the world being reconstructed before the night is over has jumped to 85%"

Koizumi's phone began to ring. He answered it and surprised me with the ferocity of his response.

"… GOD DAMN IT I KNOW! YOU GUYS BETTER HANDLE IT! SINCE THE SUBJECT PASSED OUT, I HAVE TO ATTEND TO HER IMMEDIATELY!" shouted Koizumi while dropping the call.

I composed myself and said,

"Koizumi, please wake Asahina-san up. We have to go to Haruhi's house now, or else we're all screwed."

Koizumi nodded, and woke Asahina-san up. He then called up somebody, presumably a driver, and told him to pick us up immediately.

* * *

After five minutes, we were assembled inside the limousine that Koizumi had called to bring us to Haruhi's house: me, Nagato, who was gently grasping my hand, Koizumi, who was trying to reassure the hysterical Asahina-san, and Arakawa-san, our driver.

After five minutes, we arrived at Haruhi's house. Koizumi then said,

"Arakawa-san, please wait here. If Suzumiya-san's condition is that bad, we may have to move her to the Tsuruya estate. Please inform them of the possibility of our arrival."

I guess my suspicions of Tsuruya-san being linked to Koizumi's Organization were right on track.

Arakawa-san nodded, and we got out of the car. As I looked at Haruhi's house, I silently prayed that nothing serious happened to her, and that she wouldn't bring about Armageddon.

* * *

_A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for the delay. Read and review please!_


	7. Her Inner Workings part 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, credits go to Nagaru Tanigawa_

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* * *

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**Her Inner Workings (part 1)**

As we rushed through the front yard, I remembered the last thing I saw on Nagato's television before she passed out.

_Haruhi, restlessly pacing around her own room._

"_I-I don't know what to do anymore… K-Kyon… I really do love you… If only… You could… Hear_—" _said Haruhi._

_Haruhi, falling onto the floor and becoming unconscious._

I genuinely felt scared for Haruhi. I don't ever remember her having this kind of experience before, where she would just suddenly slump onto the floor, as though she was tranquilized.

My musing was broken by Koizumi's voice, which was nowhere near cheerful,

"Damn it, the door's locked. Nagato-san, quickly, open the door!" barked Koizumi.

Nagato just gave Koizumi a quizzical look, and Koizumi answered her with a look that said, "Just do it, please."

Nagato nodded and suddenly, the front door flew open. We rushed into the house, and I immediately turned on the lights. I then beheld the living room me and Haruhi had cleaned mere days ago. It was spotless, as though any activities that had been done here were not sufficient enough to leave markings of wear and tear on the furniture.

It was as though Haruhi was always alone in this house. I thought about it and made a mental note to ask Koizumi about the whereabouts of Haruhi's parents.

We skipped the living room and proceeded upstairs to find Haruhi's bedroom. I recognized it immediately from Nagato's surveillance cameras. I quickly opened the door and saw Haruhi slumped on the floor, completely unconscious.

Koizumi immediately rushed to her side, and started to shake her.

"Suzumiya-san! Suzumiya-san! Can you hear me?" asked Koizumi agitatedly.

No answer.

"Suzumiya-san! Suzumiya-san! SUZUMIYA-SAN!" shouted Koizumi.

"There is no use. If you would check her pulse now—"

Nagato was interrupted by Koizumi.

"No… It can't be…" he whispered, clearly frightened. "I must do something about this now!"

Koizumi moved his hands to Haruhi's neck, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"She's still alive. Her pulse seems to be normal, so she's just unconscious for the time being," said Koizumi.

Why the hell are you acting like this, Koizumi? Oh right, I forgot, you _like_ Haruhi.

Asahina-san just stood in the doorway, still looking terrified. Suddenly, Nagato spoke,

"Her physical body has already stabilized, but her thought faculties remain to be unstable. She still cannot process what she feels at the moment, so her body has entered a state of shock to compensate for what she has discovered within herself."

"I see," said Koizumi. "Well, we better move her to Tsuruya-san's residence. Her home is well equipped to deal with emergencies such as these."

Yeah, about that Koizumi…

"Since when has the Organization associated with the Tsuruya family?" I asked.

Koizumi looked over to Asahina-san, and just said,

"That's classified."

I just sighed.

* * *

Half an hour after we had found Haruhi, we were already in the Tsuruya estate, Tsuruya-san herself having been the one to escort us inside.

"_No problem guys, it's for Suzumiya-san after all, right?" said Tsuruya-san when Koizumi apologized for intruding. "Besides, she's probably megas confused after she admitted to herself that she liked Kyon, nyoro~."_

We immediately thanked her for her cooperation, and so here we were, in one of the spare rooms in the Tsuruya residence, tending to Haruhi while she was still unconscious.

The room Tsuruya-san had lent us was a traditional Japanese room. It was almost completely bare, except for a kotatsu that I was sitting under, a mattress where the unconscious Haruhi lay, and a sliding door that led to the rest of the house. The floor was completely covered with tatami mats.

I looked up from my silent stupor and surveyed the room: Koizumi and Asahina-san, huddled beside Haruhi, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully on the mattress that Tsuruya-san had brought in earlier. Nagato was sitting here beside me, under the kotatsu, seemingly doing nothing, but in reality she was analyzing all the data that, according to her, Haruhi was spewing at an alarming rate.

She suddenly broke the silence,

"Haruhi Suzumiya is dreaming. As long as she dreams, the generation of data will not be hampered. If she exceeds her threshold, then the reconstruction of the world will become inevitable."

"Her threshold? What do you mean by that Nagato?" I asked.

"In this unconscious state, Haruhi Suzumiya has an uncontrolled potential to generate data. Using her dreams as a template, she will release this surplus data into the real world. However, while she is unconscious, her desires cannot manifest themselves in their entirety in the real world. Thus, she ends up spewing data that is irrelevant to the fabric of space and time. Data that is not even remotely useful in any sense," replied Nagato.

"Nagato, I think you lost me after 'surplus data'," I said.

"To make things easier for you, the data that Haruhi Suzumiya is currently releasing can be considered similar to computer viruses whose job is to fill up your storage disk. At the Computer Club, we had already experimented with creating and combating such viruses," said Nagato. "At the level of Haruhi Suzumiya, the world's data can be likened to the portion of a computer's storage disk that is already used. The free space, however, corresponds to Haruhi Suzumiya's threshold. As I have previously stated, once this is exceeded, the world's data will be overwritten, and the world will be reconstructed as we know it."

Well, shit.

"Isn't there any way for us to stop her?" asked Koizumi.

"There is a way to stop her, but I have not discovered how precisely we are to execute that plan of action. We can stop this emission of data if we successfully wake her up," said Nagato.

"I'd like to try and wake her up," quipped Asahina-san.

Ah, just like the wonderful angel that she is, Asahina-san volunteers if she thinks she can help in any way at all.

She moved in closer to Haruhi and then repeatedly called her name.

"Suzumiya-san. Suzumiya-san! Please wake up! Everyone's worried about you!"

Poor Asahina-san. Hopefully, her efforts aren't in vain.

Suddenly, she straddled atop Haruhi on the mattress. What the hell is this?

"Er, Asahina-san, _what are you doing?_" I asked.

"I'm going to try one last thing to wake Suzumiya-san up," she replied seriously.

At which she took Haruhi's hands and placed them on her breasts. Yes, you heard me right. Her _breasts_.

I just stared at them in shock. Even Koizumi had the decency to gasp and cover his eyes. Uncharacteristically, it was Nagato who broke the silence that seemed tangible enough for us to reach out into the air and touch it.

"Suzumiya-san will only wake up when she has achieved what she desires, or if she wishes to wake up," said Nagato.

After a short while, Asahina-san dropped Haruhi's hands and she moved back to the kotatsu, blushing furiously.

"How the heck are we supposed to know what exactly she wants? She's unconscious!" I said.

"Oh come on Kyon, there's no use in denying it," said Koizumi. "Face the facts. Suzumiya-san is in love with you. Now, as for you, Nagato-san—"

"No Koizumi, we are _not_ breaking up to satisfy Haruhi," I said firmly. "There has to be some way we can settle this…"

"I have an idea, but it revolves around another theory that the Organization has conceived," said Koizumi.

"Well, let's hear it then," I said.

"This theory states that we espers are able to actually enter Suzumiya-san's mind or transport certain entities into Suzumiya-san's mind, under certain very special conditions. These conditions are: we must bring Suzumiya-san into one of the closed spaces that she herself has created, and that there must be exactly one Celestial rampaging around inside that specific closed space. However, this is only speculation, as no one has ever tried to bring Suzumiya-san into one of her own closed spaces for fear of making her self-aware," Koizumi said.

"Can't we try this now? Maybe we can 'negotiate' with Haruhi's thoughts once we've entered her mind, right? But, damn it, that might make her self-aware… Do we really have to keep her in the dark about her powers, Koizumi?" I asked. "Isn't it really a better solution to let her know about her powers, so she can control them, especially in light of this situation?"

"No Kyon, the possibilities are too endless. You know that imagination of hers," said Koizumi.

"I have the same conclusion," said Nagato. "It is unwise for Haruhi Suzumiya to become aware of her powers."

"The orders I have received from my superiors tie in with what they have said, Kyon-kun," said Asahina-san.

"Okay, okay already," I said exasperatedly. "But getting back to Koizumi's theory, if she's dreaming, would it be that, even if we appeared in her mind, flaunting our, that is to say, your powers, she wouldn't believe a thing of it, right?"

"There is a possibility that Suzumiya-san would have the same reaction to the kiss you two shared during that other incident. However, for reasons unknown, she has deduced that the kiss was indeed, not a dream, as evidenced by the recording we watched earlier," said Koizumi. "This means that she will only believe something if she encounters hard evidence supporting the thing in question. My conclusion is that we have nothing to lose in testing out our theory."

Since this probably wasn't Asahina-san's area of expertise, I decided to turn to Nagato for one last time before we decided whether or not to proceed with our plan.

"Nagato, what do you think?" I asked.

Seated beside me, as she had been throughout the duration of our stay in the room, she replied,

"I am willing to take any risk," said Nagato. "I have already cleared this with the Integrated Data Thought Entity, and the seal of approval has been set. I also individually feel that any risk is better than having to end my relationship with Kyon."

Aww, how sweet of you, Nagato. I hugged her in front of the other two: Koizumi just smiled, and Asahina-san giggled. Suddenly, however, Nagato broke free of my hug.

"What's wrong Nagato?" I asked.

"When you hugged me just now, I detected an increase in the surplus data flow coming from Haruhi Suzumiya," she replied.

"Perhaps her dreaming state is conscious of what is happening right here, right now?" said Koizumi. "If we will have to do any negotiating, it may have to be with the part of her that is, according to Nagato-san, releasing more data into the environment. I do not know how we will convince that part of Suzumiya-san to wake up, but who knows? We've got nothing to lose at this point."

Asahina-san spoke,

"I support our plan because I don't think it would be the best solution for Kyon-kun to simply break up with Yuki-san. Nobody would be satisfied with that ending. So, in line of this, I v-vote that we proceed with Koizumi-kun's theory."

"As do I," said Koizumi. "Perhaps this time, I am the one that shall be gathering data for the Organization."

Nagato and I looked at each other, then we nodded. Time to set this plan into action.

"Alright Koizumi, let's do it. First things first: where is the nearest instance of closed space? We can't drag Haruhi very far in this state," I said.

"Well Kyon, an instance of closed space appeared not more than two minutes ago, in this very room. How convenient, don't you think?" said Koizumi.

His cheerful smile was back in place. Koizumi, now's not the time for such expressions!

"Sorry, but I can't help but feel positive about our plan," he replied.

"Well, let's go then. Nagato and I will lift Haruhi. Asahina-san, just hold onto Koizumi. Oh, Koizumi, where in the room is the entrance to the closed space you just mentioned?" I asked.

"Over here," he pointed at the door we came through.

Nagato and I gently lifted Haruhi's unconscious form towards the door. I knew that Nagato could lift Haruhi and more by herself, but I didn't want to lose face in front of the other two. Koizumi seemed to be aware of this, and he kept chuckling to himself. I just gave him a look that said "Shut up," and the five of us moved towards the door.

"Everyone ready?" asked Koizumi?

We all nodded.

"Good. Please hold onto me," he said. "Kyon, don't let go of Suzumiya-san."

In an instant, I felt the same strange sensation that I felt whenever Koizumi would shove me into his closed spaces.

* * *

I wonder what Mikuru-chan and the others are up to in there. Man, I hope Haruhi's going to be fine. Life is so much more boring without her.

I went to the room I lent them and opened the door. Huh? They're gone. They must've gone out and I didn't notice. I'm a megas bad host, nyoro~.

* * *

A moment later, the strange feeling subsided, and we found ourselves in a grayish and lifeless version of Tsuruya-san's living room.

"Well, here we are everyone," said Koizumi. "Kyon, Nagato-san, please lay Suzumiya-san gently on the couch."

We obliged and went back to where we were standing. Asahina-san looked afraid in this unknown environment, so I said.

"Don't worry Asahina-san, we're together, so everything's going to be alright."

She smiled at me and she looked more composed.

"Okay guys, I've ascertained that there is at least one Celestial in this closed space. It should be rampaging around in the Tsuruya's backyard. Now, we can test our theory," said Koizumi.

He stepped away from us and stepped towards Haruhi on the couch. He then closed his eyes, laid his hand on Haruhi's forehead, and he began to glow, not red, but blue.

Asahina-san looked at Koizumi in awe. Nagato and I looked at each other and nodded. I took Asahina-san by the arm and wrenched her out of her amazement.

"Come on Asahina-san, we better go over to Koizumi," I said.

She and Nagato followed me. Then, Koizumi said,

"Only the three of you can enter Suzumiya-san's mind. I will have to remain here to keep the Celestial at bay long enough for you to accomplish your mission."

We nodded, then Koizumi continued,

"Please, hold onto me once more."

We obliged and the last thing we heard from him as he glowed midnight blue and plunged us into the darkness was,

"_Good luck."_

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When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to find myself in the SOS Brigade clubroom. Asahina-san was still on the floor, while Nagato was already straightening herself out.

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, the PA system rang.

"Attention, SOS Brigade, take your seats inside the clubroom. I will be with you shortly."

That was Haruhi's voice alright. But, how does she know we're here? We took our seats and waited for a few minutes.

After a short while, Asahina-san made to stand up, saying,

"I think I should go brew some tea."

To which the PA system answered,

"Mikuru-chan, sit _down!_"

Asahina-san jumped, and she immediately sat down. Then, someone knocked on the door. That can't be Haruhi… She never knocks.

Asahina-san then said gently,

"Come in!"

The door opened, and my jaw dropped at what I saw. It was, contrary to what I thought, Haruhi. She was wearing a version of the North High sailor uniform that was purely colored white.

She closed the door and said,

"Hello everyone! I'm Haruhi's conscience. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful conversation, won't we?"

* * *

_A/N: This is getting a tad bit harder for me to write as the story comes along, but I hope you guys like it anyway. Read and review please!_


	8. Her Inner Workings part 2

**Her Inner Workings part 2**

I just stared in shock at this person who looked like Haruhi Suzumiya, but seemed to be vastly different from her.

"Excuse me, but you're her _what_ now?" I asked in disbelief.

"Her conscience. I am Haruhi's conscience, like I've just said," she replied.

Well, in any case, I'll just call you Haruhi to save me the trouble of differentiation.

"Sure Kyon, that's fine. So, on to more significant matters," Haruhi said in a businesslike tone. "I am here to provide you three assistance in the matter of waking Haruhi up. As you may have noticed, Koizumi-kun's theory was right. Espers can enter themselves or bring others into Haruhi's mind."

"Err, Suzumiya-san, if I can call you that," said Asahina-san.

"No problem Mikuru-chan!" said Haruhi.

"Yes, thank you. Uhm, Suzumiya-san, how do you know about Koizumi-kun's powers?" asked Asahina-san.

"Well, let's put things this way. When another part of Haruhi woke up three years ago, I was astounded by the potential she had gained. To this day, I don't know how or why, but I could sense that she had become very powerful. Yet she remained woefully in the dark when it concerned her newfound abilities," said Haruhi's conscience.

"Hold on a second here… Where is the other part of Haruhi that awoke three years ago right now?" I asked. "Is she the reason why Haruhi refuses to wake up?"

"You're right, Kyon. That's why I am here. I ran away, figuratively of course, from that other part just a few moments ago when I sensed your presence in Haruhi's mind. I have to impart the required information now, before she stops us, or else Haruhi will never wake up unless that part of her, the part that can harness and control her powers, gets what she wants."

"And what exactly would that be?" I asked.

"You," she said simply.

Dammit Haruhi, why are you making things so difficult for us here?

"That's not the only problem. Because that's not the only thing she wants. That part of Haruhi has become obsessed over you fairly recently. In fact, it was she who induced this slumber that Haruhi is in right now, as part of her plan. I even argued with her about how unreasonable she was becoming, but she just told me to shut up. What she wanted was just… appalling. I, as Haruhi's conscience was just shocked at the second thing she wanted."

"What would that be?"

"She want's Yuki Nagato gone. By causing Haruhi to fall into this slumber, she will only wake up if the obsessed part of Haruhi gets what she wants, namely: you, Kyon, and for Yuki Nagato to disappear permanently."

I looked at Nagato and saw that she was just staring at Haruhi's conscience.

"That's… Unbelievable, that's what it is. The Haruhi I know would never go that far," I said.

"Kyon, the entity you, Mikuru-chan, and Yuki-chan are dealing with right now is far from the Haruhi you know. She is self-aware of her powers, and, as long as you are inside Haruhi's mind, you are susceptible to them."

"D-does she really hate Nagato? And going back to Asahina-san's question earlier, but how do you both know about Koizumi's esper abilities?" I asked.

"Not really. More like she dislikes her for being with you. And since this part of her is self-aware, obviously, she knows all about the charade the SOS Brigade is putting up for her. In reality, Haruhi Suzumiya herself as a whole is the only one who is unaware of all this. Her rational thinking overrides what I and that omnipotent part of her already know, that Koizumi-kun is an esper, Mikuru-chan a time traveler, and Yuki-chan a human purpose organic interface. That is why she wants Yuki eliminated, because she fully understands her powers and capabilities."

"Hold on for a second," I said. "Earlier, we were watching taped recordings of Haruhi and I clearly remember her saying something that indicated that she still wanted to remain friends with Nagato over here despite the fact that she likes me."

"Haruhi's omnipotence… Yeah I'll just call her that… Uhm, Haruhi's Omnipotence was dissatisfied with that conclusion, thus forcing her to set this plan into action. In effect, all of those events were orchestrated to bait you and Yuki into Haruhi's mind. She already knew about Koizumi-kun's theory before his esper Organization even conceived of it. I can say with confidence though, that Haruhi's love for you is pure. The problem is, Haruhi's Omnipotence is willing to resort to any means to get what she wants. And that includes possibly killing Nagato, if that's possible."

Damn right it's possible. Nagato had explained to me how she was almost defeated by Asakura a few days ago, if it weren't for the powers of Haruhi that she had stolen.

I digested all of this and said,

"So, how are we supposed to wake Haruhi up without getting Nagato killed in the process?" I said, casting a nervous glance at Nagato.

"You three will have to convince the omnipotent part of Haruhi to let her wake up," said Haruhi's conscience. "And Yuki stealing some of her powers didn't really please Haruhi's Omnipotence either. That pretty much doubles the grudge she holds against Yuki-chan."

"And what exactly can we say to her so that she'll let us go scott free and for her to stop causing Koizumi all these headaches? Even I am feeling sorry for Koizumi now, with all the closed spaces he has to deal with," I said.

"Maybe, if we ask nicely, maybe she'll let us go," said Asahina-san.

"Ah Mikuru-chan, moe as always!" said Haruhi's conscience.

She rushed over to where Asahina-san was seated and she began to pinch Asahina-san's face.

"Oww.. S-Suzumiya-san, n-not my face, please," squealed Asahina-san.

"Stop struggling, you have no idea how cute you look when I do that!"

Oh boy, some things never change. I looked over at Nagato, who hadn't said a word the whole time we'd been here. I was already getting very worried about the implications of all of this. Haruhi's omniscience wants Nagato gone, and she's the one we're going to be dealing with…

"Damn it!" I said, banging my hand on the table. "There's got to be a way for us to convince her to wake Haruhi up."

"Friends," said Nagato.

Eh? What?

"Perhaps we can convince her that we are indeed, still friends, despite the fact that I'm with you and she does not sit too well with that situation," said Nagato. "According to our surveillance, she had said that she would not let this cause any dissent within our ranks, correct?"

Haruhi's conscience had already let go of Asahina-san and was just passively observing our preparations. Asahina-san and I nodded, and Nagato continued speaking.

"If that is indeed the case, then we might have a chance in influencing her by talking to her. We must resort to conversation because of difficulties I have encountered in the past ten minutes that have passed. Ever since we arrived in this space, I had tried to manipulate data and I had repeatedly failed. It seems that my data manipulation abilities do not function within the confines of Haruhi Suzumiya's mind. My link with the Integrated Data Thought Entity has been severed. They do not know of my whereabouts at this precise moment. I cannot sense the Entity either, and that may prove to be a problem."

So that's why Nagato hasn't said anything to anybody, even me, since the moment we arrived. She must've been surprised when her powers weren't functioning in here.

"So Nagato, Asahina-san, what shall we tell Haruhi's Omnipotence?" I asked.

"Er… I think we might have to pull a Disney lecture on her and remind her about her obligation as Yuki-san's friend to not interfere with your relationship for her own desires," said Asahina-san.

I nodded and said,

"What about you Nagato? Any ideas?"

Nagato surprised me by shaking her head.

"This is not my area of expertise, and I have no means of gathering and manipulating data at this precise moment. I leave this to the two of you, and I shall only assist if I can help," said Nagato.

"Well, then it's settled then. We have no choice but to try and smooth talk our way into saving the world," I said with a wry smile on my face.

Haruhi in the room laughed. We turned to her and she turned bright red as she spoke,

"Something about you is really amusing, Kyon-kun. No wonder Haruhi fell in love with you," she said. "You're a nice and funny guy."

"Er, thanks, I guess," I replied politely.

"Oh, by the way, good lu—"

A large crash into the clubroom door cut her off. Suddenly, the door burst open with enough ferocity for it to fly off at the hinges, and Haruhi's conscience was flung across the room due to the sheer strength of whoever opened the door. A lot of dust suddenly obscured my vision, and I began to cough.

Asahina-san screamed due to terror, and Nagato was onto her feet in an instant, rushing in front of me to protect me and Asahina-san from whoever opened the door.

When the dust finally cleared, I was flabbergasted at what my eyes were seeing.

"Why, hello Yuki."

* * *

I stared once more at the "person" who opened the door. She looked exactly like the other girl in the room who was wearing a white sailor uniform; however, _she_ was wearing a blood-red colored version of the North High uniform.

"What do you want from me, Suzumiya?" said Nagato.

"I want him," said Haruhi. "I want Kyon to be mine. Give him to me."

"And what if I don't want to?" said Nagato.

"Yuki, don't your orders from the Integrated Data Thought Entity contradict what you're doing right now? If at all, you're not even helping your kind in the slightest. If you want to utilize my potential for you and your kind's evolution, then you should be making me happy, and not pissing me off like this," said Haruhi sweetly.

"The Integrated Data Thought Entity cannot contact me at this moment. Neither can I. You do not have enough leverage, Suzumiya. You're only dealing with me as an individual," said Nagato. "There is no chance I'm giving up Kyon to you."

"Really now, Yuki? Even if I decided to write the Integrated Data Thought Entity, and all human purpose organic interfaces out of existence?" said Haruhi smugly.

Nagato tensed, and hesitated. I decided to intervene right now, before something really bad happened.

"Haruhi, listen to what you're saying! You want to kill Nagato and all of her kind, and for what? Your own selfish desires! That's how you've been from day one, Haruhi, always imposing your desires on others without giving a shit for their welfare!" I spat at her.

"No, I take it back, you're not Haruhi Suzumiya. The Haruhi Suzumiya I know would never go this far, would never be this desperate to resort to such violent means to get what she wants. The Haruhi Suzumiya I know had changed for the better, a long time ago."

"But Kyon, I really am a part of Haruhi. I love you so much, that I'm willing to do anything just to be with you. Except let you and Yuki be. I cannot take that," said Haruhi.

"Listen to your conscience! What you're doing is dangerous. Stop this right now and we can all remain friends," I desperately said.

I looked over behind me to where Haruhi's conscience lay. She was sprawled across pieces of what used to be the Brigade Commander's desktop computer, completely unconscious. Damn, what am I supposed to do now?

"I don't know about you Kyon. But I've heard everything that you, Yuki, Mikuru-chan, and my killjoy conscience have been talking about since she left my sight a while ago. You see, since I'm self-aware, or at least, _I_ am, not Haruhi… Anyway, I can read your minds. Everything that you had been thinking since you set foot in here was, and is open to me. Except Yuki. All I can see are numbers when I probe her mind," said the Suzumiya in red. "So Mikuru-chan, I'm telling you now, that Disney lecture you planned? Won't work."

At that precise moment, before she could reply, Asahina-san slumped onto the floor. I rushed over to her and called her name.

"Asahina-san! Asahina-san! Damn it Haruhi, what the hell did you do to her?" I shouted.

"Oh, I just took a leaf from her future self's book. I simply put her to sleep, don't worry," said Haruhi.

"Finally, it's just the three of us. You know what, since I feel like giving you a fighting chance today, I'm going to challenge Yuki to a fight. I won't use any one-hit-kill powers or whatever you call them. I'll just copy what Asakura-san tried to do the first time she fought Yuki, I guess," said Haruhi bluntly.

"Winner takes Kyon. You win, I'll recede into Haruhi's subconscious, never to bother her, or any of you again, and you guys get to escape to the real world. Oh, don't worry, she won't become self-aware. You owe Koizumi-kun for that. Anyway, if I win? You guys get to go back to the real world too, but you, Yuki, have to break up with Kyon. And you can't quit the Brigade. Consider that as payback for stealing him from me."

"And what if I attempt to disable you even if I lose and we are no longer in this space?" said Nagato.

"By which the Integrated Data Thought Entity will be in contact with you and will be wondering just _why_ exactly does his second-in-command want to terminate their last hope for evolution. They do not know that I am merely a facet of Haruhi's mind, and they will think that you're trying to eliminate Haruhi as a whole, and not just me," she said smugly.

"What if we don't trust you?" said Nagato.

"Brigade Commander's honor," she simply replied. "Oh, and Kyon? Stay out of this until it's all over."

"And what if I don't want to?" I snapped, pissed off at how far this part of Haruhi has gone.

"Well, I can always do this," she said.

She snappd her fingers, and two unidentified burly men entered the room. They went to my side and suddenly grabbed my arms, the same way bouncers would at a bar.

"Hey, who are these clowns anyway? They stink," I said.

"They're members of the Hey Hey Haruhi or HHH defense force," said Haruhi. "Hey you idiots, loosen your grip on his arms by a bit. Don't damage my future boyfriend or heads will roll."

I just sighed at our situation, fervently hoping that Nagato would emerge victorious and that this omnipotent Haruhi would keep her word.

"Haruhi Suzumiya, I accept your offer. Let us settle this once and for all," said Nagato.

"Sure Yuki," said Haruhi.

She suddenly waved her hands, and the clubroom glowed with a bright white light.

* * *

I was growing extremely worried about Kyon, Asahina-san, and Nagato-san. They've been gone for about an hour now.

I looked down from where I was floating in the sky at the Tsuruya estate. The lone Celestial was still rampaging around the place, and I couldn't destroy it, for it would remove one of the necessary conditions for the three to be in Suzumiya-san's mind right now.

This reminds me too much of trying to catch a rare Pokemon. Jeez, I'm starting to become as sarcastic as Kyon. He's really grown onto me, that Kyon, but thankfully, not in _that_ way.

Ah well, back to work. I started to hum while streaking towards my target,

"Keep, keep, keep, the Celestial at bay…"

Catchy.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I saw that we were in an open coliseum-like building. The ground was covered with newly mown grass, the stands were completely empty. I surveyed my surroundings and discovered to my displeasure that those two goons were still grabbing my arms, preventing any significant form of movement from me. Asahina-san and Haruhi's conscience were sprawled on the grass some meters away, and I couldn't try to help them, given my current predicament.

I looked at Nagato and Haruhi, and they were standing face-to-face across a stretch of the grass within the coliseum. Hang on, this place looks familiar…

"Hey Haruhi, where the heck is this anyway?" I called.

She raised an eyebrow, looked at me, and called back,

"Welcome to Indigo Plateau, Kyon. But we won't be using Pokemon here this time. It'll just be me and Yuki. Winner takes you."

I sighed loudly and called to them,

"Whatever happens, unless you stop this madness Haruhi, I'm one-hundred percent behind Nagato! You can do it Nagato!"

Haruhi just raised an eyebrow at me, and her face suddenly grew serious. Nagato glanced over at me and nodded vigorously.

"Enough fun and games Yuki. We fight for Kyon," she shouted.

Nagato readied herself for Haruhi's attack. Then, right on cue, Haruhi sped towards her like a streaking bullet.

I silently prayed, confident that no one else could be as sincere as I was at this very moment.

"_Good luck Nagato…"_

_

* * *

_

_A/N: If you guys are wondering why the scenes I portrayed seemed so un-Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu-ish, let me explain. This is how I would interpret a self-aware Haruhi Suzumiya's mind would be: highly imaginative, since she's Genre Savvy enough to know quite a lot of references._

_Anyway, this chapter got really tough to write. So I hope you guys enjoy it. Read and review please!_

_Disclaimers: I do not own Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Pokemon, and Walt Disney._


	9. Surprise Me

_A/N: I apologize for the extremely long delay in the update. Aside from being faced with writer's block, I've been addicted to Crucis Fatal/Fake, the second Fate/Stay Night doujin game. Speaking of Fate/Stay Night, I might begin writing for that fandom soon. I'm even contemplating on a Suzumiya Haruhi and Fate/Stay Night crossover, if and when I think of a plot for it._

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* * *

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**Surprise Me**

As Haruhi collided with Nagato, I thought oddly that this was a reversal of the traditional way of earning a mate's favor. Normally, like in the animal world, it's normally the male gender that engages in combat to determine who gets the girl. Statistics involving brawls in high schools support this, as most of the reasons for the fight were somehow related to a girl. In this situation however, everything was eerily reversed. Not to mention that the participants were a near-omnipotent god and an alien interface with the ability to rewrite reality in the immediate area. Goodness, my life must be getting more complicated with each passing day. Though if we don't escape from Haruhi's head, we're pretty much doomed anyway.

The impact that resulted from their collision was so powerful, that the sheer alacrity of the force ripped the two goons who were roughly gripping my arms from me. They flew as though a storm had passed by them, and they collided with the coliseum wall with a sickening thud. I heard a sound like a gunshot ring through the air, and even Haruhi and Nagato paused momentarily before resuming their hand-to-hand combat. One of the goons now probably had a broken arm or leg.

I strode over to where they were and grinned satisfyingly at the two of them. Serves you two right for roughly handling me.

At this point, I was wondering how exactly I could help Nagato defeat this omnipotent Haruhi. I feverishly wracked my brains on how to do it, and I even contemplated interfering directly in the fight between Haruhi and Nagato. Perhaps if Haruhi accidentally harms me and sees me injured, if she really loves me that much, she'll be willing to call off this senseless fight.

And if I accidentally die because of my interference? Well, I can't rely on the Integrated Data Thought Entity for a second time, can I? Besides, if this were a story, and if I were to die again, reviewers would probably think whoever wrote this crap was recycling their plot. I mean, I was almost killed, no, I actually _died_ mere days ago. Do I really want to try that again? I doubt it.

I discarded that idea and decided to hope against all hope that Haruhi would stick true to her word that she wouldn't use those one-hit kill powers she hinted at having. Despite Nagato's tremendous abilities and skill, when facing this omnipotent Haruhi, it'd be just like Shirou Emiya facing Lancer for the first time. A simple one-hit kill.

Frankly, the thought frightened me. Losing Nagato now would be like losing an arm or a leg. I felt that at this point, I wouldn't be able to withstand losing her.

As their fight continued, I saw Nagato moving like a blur, trying to attack Haruhi from different angles. Haruhi was the same, relentlessly countering every move that Nagato attempted to use. I easily remembered the Brigade Commander's pledge of honor earlier, since neither side was gaining ground the way the fight was proceeding. I had to hope against hope that Haruhi wouldn't tire of this and simply wipe Nagato from existence.

Why am I so confident in Haruhi's abilities? Because after being with the Brigade for so long, I've understood most of the information that Nagato was feeding me about that girl Haruhi Suzumiya. The reason why she would undoubtedly win if she unleashed her full potential was because we were in Haruhi's mind. Using the same reasoning that Asakura Ryouko used when she tried to kill me for the first time, I can safely conclude that we are in Haruhi's data jurisdiction. When humans dream lucid dreams, they can freely manipulate the events that are occurring in the dream.

Haruhi's mind is her data jurisdiction, and coupled with the fact that Nagato cannot contact the Integrated Data Thought Entity, she was at a definite mismatch against the omnipotent Haruhi.

I prayed that Nagato could somehow use her physical abilities to outmatch Haruhi. However, while I was rushing towards the fallen Asahina-san to assist her, I stole a glance at the two combatants who were still fighting feverishly.

Haruhi was still easily parrying Nagato's punches with ruthless skill and timing. She side-stepped Nagato's next attack, and circled her. She then delivered a powerful kick to the side of Nagato's head, and Nagato flew into the coliseum walls with such force that that half of that side of the stands was utterly demolished.

I stopped in my tracks and shouted in horror,

"No! Nagato! Haruhi, stop this madness!"

Haruhi then turned to me and smugly replied,

"Madness? MADNESS!? THIS… IS… SPA— Nah I can't say that. It's too cliché for god's sake."

"You know Haruhi, I can't believe you still have a sense of humor," I replied dispassionately.

"Thanks for the compliment Kyon. Now, time for me to finish this and come home with you," she said while moving ever so slowly towards Nagato.

She suddenly took a long knife from her pocket, a knife just like the one Asakura had tried to stab me with so long ago. Shit.

"Haruhi, I thought that the deal was that you wouldn't kill Nagato! What happened to Brigade Commander's honor?" I shouted desperately.

"Yuki-chan is _really, really_, pissing me off. So I've decided to just get rid of her permanently. It's a better punishment than merely breaking up with you, isn't it?"

Nagato was still knocked out. She was extremely disheveled and she appeared to be severely weakened by the force of the impact she had suffered mere moments ago. I realized that now was the time for me to interfere, regardless of the consequences I faced. I decided to point out to Haruhi the fatal flaw in her plan that she had apparently overlooked out of sheer hubris.

"Hey Haruhi, don't you think killing Nagato is the worst way of trying to win me over? I mean, you do realize that I'll hate you for the rest of my life, no matter how short or long it may be, if you kill Nagato right here and now?" I shouted defiantly.

That stopped Haruhi dead in her tracks. Surely she realizes this, that she can't win me over through the use of brute force. However, her reaction after a few moments really surprised me, so much that I felt my heart jump in my chest.

Haruhi smiled and said while approaching me,

"I see, Kyon. Don't you think that, as an omnipotent being, I would have thought of this? Well, I have found the solution to the problem, and it involves _you_."

Me? I'll never cooperate with you. You aren't even the Haruhi I know, just some overly-aggressive and self-aware part of her subconscious.

"Exactly. If I win, I'll basically be the new Haruhi. Her conscience over there can't do anything about things once I defeat Yuki-chan."

I looked over at the unconscious Haruhi in white and asked,

"Is this like Kikyou taking over Sia for one day?" (_A/N: Kikyou is Sia's other personality in the _Shuffle!_ anime._)

"Yeah, except that it'll be _permanent_. I know I'm going to totally screw Koizumi and Mikuru-chan over, but I can always keep it from Koizumi. I can afford to put up a show for him, just as he has been putting up a show for me all this time. As for Mikuru-chan, she would be too scared to even _think_ of confronting me."

"Cut to the chase. What does all this and me have to do with you overcoming that fatal flaw in your plan?"

"Oh Kyon, it's simple. You do recall what I said earlier about me taking over Haruhi's mind? Well, answer this question: When Yuki remade the world and stole my powers, tell me: _Why_ did you activate her Emergency Escape Program?"

She now stood right in front of me. I felt as though my heart had stopped. How did she know…?

"Of course I know, just stop asking how I know. Answer the question Kyon," said Haruhi smugly.

"Fine, I'll admit it. I wanted to be with the Haruhi and the Brigade I knew, not some fabricated world that Nagato had created."

"Great. Follow-up question: _Why_ did you kiss me that night?"

Oh no, she can't be possibly talking about _that_ event? Screw it, she probably is.

"The truth is, Nagato and Asahina-san left me instructions on what to do in the event that those things should happen. Though it took me a long while to figure out what they were trying to tell me."

"Wrong Kyon. Those instructions were merely a coincidence with the real reason. Kyon, admit it. At one point, you fell in love with me. Right?" Haruhi asked, playfully, but her manner was extremely frightening.

"Wrong. I never fell in love with you Haruhi," I said defiantly.

But her question made my resolve falter. Indeed, _why_ did I do those things? Why did I take action to come back to the turbulent world that Haruhi was in? Didn't I want a simpler life? And yet I decided to go back. She might just be righ— no she can't possibly be right… Can she?

"Search your feelings Kyon, you know it to be true," said Haruhi while giggling.

Damn it, enough stealing lines from movies Haruhi, it's really pissing me off!

"You aren't in any position to contradict me Kyon. Anyway, going back to my point earlier, let's face it: you fell in love with me at some point. Now, when you fell in love with Yuki—" she uttered the name with distaste, "— you merely suppressed the side of you that was in love with me, and you let the part of you that loved her dominate your feelings. Well, my powers being as they are, I can call out the part of you that fell in love with me. Right here, right now," said Haruhi seriously.

No way!

"Way," replied Haruhi.

She then stepped back from me, and she closed her eyes. Her hands glowed blue, and all of a sudden, she opened her eyes.

"Kyon, look behind you," said Haruhi.

I turned and gasped at what I saw. It was like staring into a mirror. The same features, even that mole on the neck. Those features were _mine_.

"Yo," he said. "Have we met?" he asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

Damn it, am I _that_ annoying?

"Yeah Kyon, you are, but I don't really mind," said Haruhi.

The other me suddenly noticed Haruhi standing there, and, uncharacteristically, he began to blush profusely.

"Hey Haruhi, what's up?" he said.

"Nothing much. Except that the other you doesn't approve of me," said Haruhi.

Kyon turned to me and said,

"What's not to like about Haruhi? She's pretty and smart after all. Even if you're me, you're such an idiot."

"Shut up," I just said.

This is seriously pissing me off. What the hell is Haruhi planning here anyway?

"It's really simple Kyon," she addressed me. "Watch."

"Hey Kyon," she turned to the other me, "If you help me get Yuki out of the way, you can be with me forever."

"Really?" Kyon asked, a smile uncharacteristically forming on his face. "You're gonna be my girlfriend?"

"Not just. We're going to get married for sure!" Haruhi said happily.

What the hell? So this is what a lovestruck me is like. Easily manipulated, no more than a puppet, a tool, a figurehead used for another's own ends.

"I'll do it," said Kyon.

Damn. Now what the heck am I supposed to do?

"You're going to watch us destroy Yuki in front of you Kyon. And when we're done, I'll fuse the two of you together, with _him_ being in command this time. Koizumi and Mikuru-chan won't notice your change, neither will they notice Yuki's absence, once I've toyed with their memories," said Haruhi while pointing at the other me.

Suddenly, my body froze, and when I looked down at my body, I saw nothing but the grass. What the hell have you done this time Haruhi!?

"I simply froze your body so you can't move, and I turned you invisible so that Yuki can't see you. This is the best punishment for her. The last thing she'll see is you stabbing her. Even with Yuki's immensely powerful recovery, she probably won't bother once she sees that it was you who stabbed her. She'll think that life will have lost its purpose. And if you're thinking that she might be able to deduce that the Kyon that's going to stab her isn't you, you're wrong. I've already shielded this part of you from all data manipulation. Even Yuki wouldn't notice the difference," said Haruhi.

"Haruhi, no, _you,_ since you're not even the Haruhi I knew, you are nothing but a cruel bitch," I said menacingly.

"I'm sure you'll change your mind once this part of you is in command," said Haruhi dispassionately. "Now stop talking!"

I tried to answer but I couldn't. No matter how much I tried to shout, nothing came out of my mouth. I hung my head in resignation. She silenced me for the last time. It's over. She outsmarted all of us, even Nagato.

_I'm so sorry… Yuki._

_

* * *

_

I slowly opened my eyes, and looked over to where Omni-Haruhi Suzumiya stood. She appears to be walking towards me. Perhaps now is my opportunity to strike. I unsteadily stood up, and I locked onto Omni-Haruhi Suzumiya, to attempt another attack on her. Coordinates acquired. Weak point acquired. Chance of failure: 50%.

With her powers at her full disposal, this facet of Haruhi Suzumiya's mind has outplayed me in every conceivable way. But there was no hope unless I would try. For Kyon's sake. I launched towards Haruhi like a pinball that was just released from the spring.

"Nagato! Stop it! Haruhi and I have come to an agreement!" shouted Kyon.

He negotiated with her? Interesting, it seems that I may have to thank him immensely for his assistance in this time or peril. Perhaps another date would do the trick. I smiled at the thought and stopped in my tracks. I walked towards the pair and asked quietly,

"What are your terms, Suzumiya?"

She did not answer, and I asked her again,

"What are your terms, Suzumiya?"

She still remained silent. Then the next thing that happened took me completely by surprise. Naively thinking that it was all over, I lowered my guard, and I felt someone punch me in the head with enough force to smash a marble block into pieces. I looked over at the culprit and stared in horror.

"K-Kyon? W-Why…?" I could only stutter.

"I'm sorry Nagato, but I don't love you anymore. I'm going to be with Haruhi from now on," said Kyon without batting an eyelid.

I froze. How could this happen? The probability of this happening was 0%. How…?

"Now then, go away," said Kyon.

I suddenly felt a sensation somewhere around my belly that was unpleasant. When I looked, I saw the end of a knife penetrating my chest. Kyon just… Stabbed me. Why…

"Commencing nullification of data link," I heard a voice say.

It was Suzumiya. She had somehow convinced Kyon to turn on me. As for the knife, I analyzed the material composition and to my dismay, I found out that it was one of the knives that Asakura had used when she tried to kill me mere days ago.

He withdrew the knife from my body. I wordlessly slumped onto the ground, life losing its sense of purpose.

* * *

_No!!!! Nagato!_

Suddenly, I could move again. I looked at my body and I could see myself again. Haruhi had lifted whatever she had used on me. I was in a state of shock. I just saw the other me stab Yuki in the chest with the knife that Haruhi was carrying around earlier.

I didn't know what to do. I was lost. With Nagato thinking that I stabbed her, she wasn't coming back. She wouldn't want to heal her wounds if an even greater wound had been inflicted on her most vulnerable organ: her heart.

Nagato was gone, Haruhi was on the way to becoming self-aware, and this omnipotent facet of Haruhi's mind was about to force me to become her boyfriend by seating that other me in command of my thoughts. This Kyon right here will cease to exist when she succeeds.

Life has now truly lost its purpose. I remembered Asahina-san's mission: to observe the source of the time-quake Haruhi Suzumiya. As well as Koizumi's, to observe and to placate their so-called "God."

They can all screw themselves. I silently walked over to Haruhi and the other me and said,

"You've won Haruhi. I hope you're happy now."

"Yeah I am," she said. "Since I'm feeling so kind, I'm going to let you hold Yuki's hand for the last time."

I just sullenly nodded and strode towards Yuki's body. What I did next completely took Haruhi and my other self by surprise. Instead of going towards Yuki, I suddenly side stepped and wrested the knife from my other self's grip. Without missing a beat, I drove the knife into my heart.

Suzumiya just gasped and I said with a bloody smile,

"C-check… Mate…"

* * *

Against my will, I opened my eyes for the last time. I saw, to my disbelief, two Kyons with Suzumiya. She must have used her powers to deceive me, and in all probability, the fake Kyon was the one who stabbed me.

I saw the other Kyon wrest the knife from the Kyon who stabbed me, and he promptly drove the knife into his chest.

I then deduced that it was the real Kyon who committed suicide, thinking that I wouldn't want to come back since I thought that he was the one who stabbed me. I tried to regenerate, but the data link nullification was nearing completion. He read me like an open book. I didn't want to heal myself, but thankfully, though it may be too late, at least I could rest easily now.

I heard the real Kyon say faintly,

"C-check… Mate…"

Then everything turned black.

* * *

I just gasped in horror. I honestly didn't think that Kyon would go that far for Yuki. I turned to the Kyon still standing beside me.

"Well, I guess I'm going then. Since he stabbed himself, him being the original Kyon, when he dies, so do I," he said.

"You're staying here with me. I'll make it so that you'll remain here with me, permanently," I desperately shouted.

Summoning the power within me, I thought with all my might that I didn't want the Kyon beside me to go away. I closed my eyes, confident that I was successful.

When I opened my eyes, that Kyon was gone. All I could see were the real Kyon and Yuki bleeding to death, Mikuru-chan and my conscience unconscious on the grass. Ah, I see. The nanomachines Yuki inserted into Kyon prevented me from using my powers on Kyon himself. He's really gone. They're all gone.

_What have I done?_

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_A/N: Read and review please. I hope that I'm not too busy during the next week or two, as I want to finally finish my story._


	10. Redemption Equals Disappearance

_Disclaimers: I do not own _Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu_, or any of the characters the franchise has. I _do_ own this story though._

**Redemption Equals Disappearance**

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**

I numbly stared at the sight that lay before my eyes. A desolate Indigo Plateau, half of the smooth stone stands destroyed, unconscious bodies lying everywhere. I was seemingly numbed when I realized what exactly I had done. By forcing my partly unrequited love on Kyon, partly simply because Kyon did fall in love with me some time ago, I had inadvertently brought about their demise. Kyon and Yuki-chan, cold and clammy, lying on the freshly mown grass that was now stained with blood.

The true power of love… It's different from person to person. In my case, I was apparently ax crazy enough to resort to getting rid of Yuki to have Kyon all to myself, without any interference whatsoever. As for Kyon though, the power of his love was powerful enough for him to give up his own life to make my plans come crashing down with the authority of a thousand judges that said,

"_It's your damn fault they're dead._"

Indeed, it was my fault. While I surveyed the desolate sight that presented itself to me, I noticed a slight movement from the corner of my eye. I immediately turned to the source of the movement and my eyes fell on Mikuru-chan, who had just gotten up and was scratching her head faintly. She apparently had no idea what had just occurred here, because she was approaching me whilst swaying slightly from side to side. As she approached me, she suddenly stopped, her senses having slightly recovered from the stupor they had just been in, and she looked to the side and saw Kyon and Yuki lying on the grass, all bloodied and mangled. She gasped loudly, and covered her mouth with her hand.

Even under stress, Mikuru-chan does look cute, doesn't she? Wait, that's the least of my problems right now. Because she turned to me and completely took me by surprise with the look she had on her face. Her normally cute face was replaced by a look that screamed bloody murder. On a goon's face, that look was perfectly at home. On Mikuru-chan however, it looked so out of place that it actually looked more intimidating and frightening than I originally thought it would turn out to be.

Even her normally trembling voice was gone when she spoke.

"Suzumiya-san… Did you cause this? Did you kill Kyon and Yuki-chan?" she said quietly.

"Unfortunately, yes," was all I could reply.

Suddenly, I saw her eyes gleam slightly and she spoke once more.

"I see. I remember what my superiors told me when I was first instructed to come to this time plane. I was told to observe the source of the time quake that did not allow us to travel back further in time than four years ago. That source was you, Suzumiya-san. And now, I don't care about my mission anymore. I can't believe you killed Kyon and Yuki. We were… Friends. Your selfishness ended everything that I enjoyed in this time plane. I always thought that, even though I'll always be out of place in this time plane, Kyon-kun would always help me out and show me the way. But now, he's gone and he may never be able to do that again. All because of _you," _she said menacingly. "I'll do anything that I can to avenge their deaths," shouted Mikuru while trembling in rage.

Laughable, to be honest. What could she possibly do against me? But then again, I realized, I probably did deserve whatever she was going to throw at me. To think I caused the death of the person that I loved… Not to mention the person he loved too, which undeniably broke his heart.

I was sickened with myself. How and why did I stoop this low anyway? I might as well accept whatever Mikuru-chan was going to throw at me, no matter how laughable it may be.

She withdrew a small black object from her pocket and furiously began to punch commands into what seemed to be an electronic interface on the watch. After a short while, the watch suddenly spoke in an electronic voice.

"Parameters successfully modified. Time travel is now set to ignore the fabric of reality. This can only be used once, after which this object will cease to function permanently. Do you wish to continue?"

In a voice that seemed to carry the authority of a thousand men, Mikuru-chan replied, "Yes."

I was curious though… What exactly was she going to do to me? Ah well, I might as well ask her. There couldn't be a greater punishment for me than losing Kyon. This was nothing compared to that…

"Hey Mikuru-chan, what're you gonna do to me?" I asked nonchalantly.

"I'm going to send you to Earth, 4.5 billion years ago, around two minutes before that huge meteorite strikes the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico," she said softly.

Even though I was willing to accept this punishment entirely, I thought that it would be a tad bit out of character if I didn't goad her into doing something foolish first.

"I see. And what makes you think that your time traveling toy will work on me? I'm nigh-omnipotent Mikuru-chan! What can you do against me?"

"According to my superiors, you may have the power to rewrite the world, yes. However, we have theorized that after you have exceeded a certain point, a point that we named the 'Threshold of Power,' you will be unable to expend a large quantity of your powers to affect reality for the time being. The duration of how long you will be relatively powerless is directly proportional to how much power you expended," she replied in a businesslike tone.

Wow. Mikuru was right. That is the one limitation of my powers. It's like those skill cooldown times in those computer games people play these days, where they put a limit on how long it takes for you to be able to use a skill again to prevent spamming.

"What if I still have enough power to write the Time Plane Destruction Device out of existence. Or _you_, for that matter?" I said, intending to goad Mikuru on some more.

"You do not have enough power to do that, Suzumiya-san. If you killed Yuki Nagato, that means you must have exhausted a lot of your power to accomplish such a feat," she said simply.

Well technically, it was _Kyon_ who killed Yuki, but I think she'd rather not know how sadistic I was at the very end. Enough goading. I might as well let her do it. After all, a life without Kyon, even with my powers, was an empty life. I can't bring him back to life either; it's one of the rules that are associated with my powers. (_A/N: According to the Integrated Data Thought Entity, Haruhi's powers are an advanced form of data manipulation, so the same rules that apply to Nagato's powers apply to Haruhi's powers as well)_

Might as well get it over with.

"Alright Mikuru-chan, you win. I'll go quietly. The last thing that I'll say to you is this: I'm sorry."

She nodded once, and she was about to activate the command that would send me to prehistoric times when someone shouted.

"WAIT!!!"

* * *

Both Mikuru and I swiveled our heads towards the direction of the voice. The voice that was completely identical to mine.

"Ah, my conscience, it appears that you have woken up," I said dryly.

"Yes, I have," replied the other Haruhi. "Mikuru-chan, stop what you're doing right now!"

"You're defending _her_ now? What is wrong with you!? She killed Kyon and Yuki! And you're still defending her!?" shouted Mikuru.

Okaaay, I think Mikuru-chan has officially snapped. Better restrain her before she does something incredibly stupid.

However, it turned out that such thoughts were completely unnecessary.

"Hold it Mikuru-chan! There's a solution to the problem we have right here," said the Haruhi in white.

Mikuru-chan finally relaxed and reverted to her normal self, upon reassurance from Haruhi's conscience.

"Uhm… What do you have in mind, Suzumiya-san?" she addressed the other Haruhi.

"We need _her_ cooperation," she said, pointing at me.

Mikuru's jaw dropped in disbelief, and she said,

"How c-could she possibly cooperate with us? It was her fault that Kyon died!"

I don't blame Mikuru at all for thinking of me as a heartless beast. Because indeed, despite all my love for Kyon, that was exactly how I acted. Insensitive to the core, not giving a damn about what Kyon felt for Yuki. I was so selfish. With Kyon gone, I'm better off dead, right?

I couldn't take it anymore. Without warning, in front of the two of them, I dropped to my knees and I began to sob uncontrollably.

"W-why… K-Kyon… I'm so sorry… For my selfishness," I spluttered while crying.

Mikuru was taken completely by surprise at seeing me do this. The other Haruhi, however, stood still. It was as though she completely expected this to happen.

"That's why," said the other Haruhi simply.

I cried for a few minutes, thinking about everything that I had lost because of my own folly. Then, the other Haruhi laid out her proposal to us.

"Haruhi," she said, addressing me, "I want you to activate Nagato's link to the Integrated Data Thought Entity."

"H-How will that help?" I asked, skeptical about her idea.

"Simple. Once the Integrated Data Thought Entity realizes that his or her second-in-command has fallen, Yuki will be brought back to life, simply because, as a human-purpose organic interface, her position to obtain data to foster their evolution is an invaluable asset," she replied.

Not a half bad idea. I just nodded, closed my eyes, and thought with all my might about Yuki's connection to the Entity being restored. Instantly, I knew that I was successful, because I heard the grass rustle briefly in the spot where Yuki lay.

I looked at her, and she was unsteadily getting to her feet. In no time at all, the wounds she had sustained from being stabbed were completely gone. I preempted things and decided to break the silence first.

"Okay, first things first: Yuki, I'm so sorry. For everything," I said.

"You see now what true love means, Suzumiya? That is what Kyon has taught me. It is when you want your beloved to be truly happy," said Yuki.

"I-I understand," I said, while bowing to her, trying to convey how sorry I am for all the stupid things that I did. "What's the plan now?"

"The Integrated Data Thought Entity has informed me of the developments in the situation and we have deduced that it is vital that Kyon lives, to prevent Haruhi Suzumiya, pertaining to the entirety of her being, from becoming self-aware. We interfaces have pondered this… Anomaly, without gaining any pertinent data…," said Yuki while trailing off into silence.

"What anomaly?" asked Mikuru-chan.

"The anomaly being that the individual facets of her mind are aware of the existence of her powers, with some being able to wield it—" she turned to me briefly, "— but Haruhi Suzumiya herself as whole is unaware of this."

"Oh," was all Mikuru-chan would say.

"However, this anomaly appears to be not significant at this moment in time, so let us move on to rectifying our problem here. Like the last time that Kyon died, I will employ the same methods to bring Kyon back to life: taking some of your power—" she turned to me as she said this, "— and giving it to the Entity to perform the resurrection of Kyon."

I nodded at this and said,

"I agree to this plan. I'm willing to help in any way that I can."

Yuki just nodded and said,

"Good, however, there is one catch. Even though you are able to fully wield Haruhi Suzumiya's powers, you are, in fact, only controlling a small portion of it. Unfortunately for you, the amount of power that I have to take from you will be enough to erase you from existence. Given what you have done to cause all of this, I will accept nothing less than your permission for me to continue with this plan."

I thought about it for a second. This me will cease to exist. Then, in an instant, I knew what my choice would be.

"I'm willing to do this. Consider this as my redemption," I said simply.

Yuki nodded and said,

"I will. Now, please close your eyes and focus on transferring your power to me."

I did what I was told and thought about all the mistakes I had committed. This, disappearing from existence, was more than welcome to me right now. It provided the medium that I needed to free myself from the brunt of my self-torment that stemmed from what I had done mere minutes ago.

Time to transfer my power to Yuki now, and hope that everything will work out fine. I thought with all my might about just that, and then suddenly…

Everything went white. I had finally entered the state of peace.

_Thank you, Yuki…_

_

* * *

_

_A/N: Read and review please! My story is finally about to end. Thanks for reading until this point!_


	11. Recovery & Epilogue

_A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but the past three weeks have been really busy at school. Also, I've been polishing this ending for two weeks, so I hope it doesn't turn out bad. :D_

_And now I finally present, my fic's final chapter and Epilogue._

_Disclaimers: Credits to _Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu _go to Nagaru Tanigawa_

_

* * *

_

**Recovery**

Wisps of what seemed to be a dusty, bright material were abundant in the air that occupied the now derelict-looking stone stadium. The once majestic stadium was now partly reduced to rubble, nothing more than a shadow of its former glory. With the disappearance of the girl clad in red, the same could be said for the purple haired girl clad in a sailor uniform who stood in the midst of it all. She slowly ambled over to the unmoving corpse of her lover, and she knelt down beside him. She suddenly began to mutter an incomprehensible spiel, and suddenly, it was as if the world itself stood still.

* * *

_Commencing establishment of data uplink…_

_Host server detected… Password required:_

_Entering Password: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku: Data-Entity Evolution_

_Password confirmed. Accessing pertinent data…_

_Data uplink completed._

"_What is it Nagato? Why did I lose contact with you?"_

"_Master, it was the work of the self-aware facet of Haruhi Suzumiya. Our link has been restored, partly due to her disappearance, and partly because I used some of her powers, which are now under my data jurisdiction," I replied methodically through our link._

_The Integrated Data Thought Entity replied,_

"_Well done Nagato. With this achievement, we are one step closer to realizing our objective of utilizing her powers for our own evolution. What is the current situation?"_

"_Things are not in our favor at this point in time. John Smith has perished once more."_

_I inadvertently paused for a few seconds when I realized I was talking about Kyon being dead. We'll see what we can do about that…_

"_I surmise that upon discovery of this fact, it is inevitable that Haruhi Suzumiya will cause the destruction of, not just this world, but the entire dimension it resides in," I continued._

"_Very well then. We, no, _I_ shall have to bring John Smith back to life again. Send me the powers that you have obtained from Suzumiya," replied the Entity._

_I reached into the depths of my being and grasped the powers I had obtained. I then sent them over to the Entity so that Kyon could return. Once again, I was assailed with dark thoughts, thoughts that involved Kyon dying permanently, I shuddered at these thoughts, but my fears were needless, thanks to the intervention of the Integrated Data Thought Entity._

_Or so I initially thought._

"_The powers I have received from you are insufficient to perform the process. Some data was lost during your transfer through our data uplink. Additionally, to restore our data uplink, you were forced to use some of those powers. As a result, the potency of what powers you had decreased, since you obtained only a limited quantity of her powers. Furthermore, they were only obtained from a facet of her being, and not her entirety."_

"_But we must do something. If we do not act, then the entire dimension will be in danger!" I exclaimed._

Not to mention that Kyon will remain dead…

"_Do you think I would merely let this happen?" the Entity replied coolly. "The one solution to this problem is a source of power strong enough to synergize with and compensate for the powers we have at our disposal. Unfortunately for you, you are the only viable source of power inside Haruhi Suzumiya's mind at this particular moment in time," continued the Entity._

"_I cannot give you a choice as to whether or not you desire to participate in this. Our evolution is our greatest priority, and any means to secure it is undoubtedly necessary. There will be consequences for your data manipulation abilities, the higher echelons of which will be permanently disabled until some point in the future that you once again obtain some of her powers."_

"_I understand that our evolution is our greatest priority," I replied._

"_Besides, despite this, I determine that you will voluntarily assist me in this, because that means that John Smith will return to the world of the living," said the Entity._

"_Yes Master, I have grasped what it is like to love, and without him, my life, despite it being your doing, becomes meaningless. The data that I am currently gathering will definitely be of use to you in the future," I replied._

"_Good, good. I shall permit this 'love' that you have for him, so long as it does not impede the accomplishment of our ulterior objective."_

"_Yes Master. I deduce that with the resolution of this incident, all precautions have been laid."_

"_Very good Nagato. Now, let us begin the process," said the Entity. "Reach further into yourself… Feel your innate power."_

_I did as I was told._

"_Good, very good. Now, I shall take them from you. Be warned, you will be weak and tired after the process, as your physical components will need to recover from the amount of power lost. I shall facilitate the transportation out of Haruhi Suzumiya's mind. Now rest, my loyal subordinate," said the Entity._

_I felt part of my powers recede and I suddenly felt so tired that my own legs could not support my own weight. I collapsed onto the ground, thinking,_

"Perhaps I really do need some rest…"

* * *

_Where the hell are they?_

Kyon, Nagato-san, and Asahina-san have been gone for the better part of three hours. During that entire time, I was busy holding off the Celestial, without destroying it. A bead of sweat ran across my brow. I wiped it off and sighed.

_How much longer can I keep this up?_

I decided to check on Suzumiya-san's unmoving form once again. That means that I needed another attack powerful enough to incapacitate the Celestial for a few minutes. I hope it isn't powerful enough to destroy it. The consequences of its destruction now would be… Severe.

I flew higher and higher above the Tsuruya household, took aim at the still rampaging Celestial, and fired.

"Gand!" I cried.

Black balls of psychic energy shot from my hands towards the cyan colored beast and found their mark. The Celestial swayed for a few seconds, then it toppled over.

"That should knock it out for a while," I muttered while I wryly remembered a certain black-haired, pigtailed _tsundere_.

I zoomed back into the Tsuruya household and I beheld Suzumiya-san's unconscious form that lay on the living room sofa. Suddenly, she coughed a few times, and I immediately rushed over to her side, worried for her safety.

"Suzumiya-san, Suzumiya-san, are you alright?" I asked while slightly shaking her body.

She then let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain, and instantly, my vision flared white. In the next second, I felt as though I had been ferociously punched in the gut, and I keeled over backwards, shielding my eyes from the bright light. When the light finally disappeared, I surveyed the scene and gaped at what I saw: Asahina-san crying hysterically, Kyon and Nagato-san were both unconscious, their clothes stained with blood.

I immediately rushed towards Asahina-san's side and desperately asked,

"Asahina-san, what happened?"

"S-Suzumiya-san killed Yuki, and Kyon-kun sacrificed himself to stop her from carrying out what she wanted to do. But Suzumiya-san saw what she did, and she brought Yuki back. She then talked to Yuki, and then she disappeared. Yuki then did something to get Kyon-kun to start breathing, and then she collapsed and then… I don't know!" she spluttered, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

I gaped at her and felt as though the world's entire weight had been placed upon my shoulders. Kyon was obviously in critical condition, and apart from Asahina-san, the three of them badly needed medical attention. I had to get us all out of here as soon as possible.

"Asahina-san, please watch over them for a minute. I'll get us out of here."

"O-okay, Koizumi-kun," she replied tearfully.

I wordlessly took to the air and flew out of the house again towards the fallen Celestial.

_Time to end this, for the sake of the SOS Brigade._

I closed my eyes, and visualized the legendary Irish champion of old. I thought of the spear that was made from legend, and I channeled my psychic energy into forming a faint copy of it that would be powerful enough to vanquish the Celestial. A red spear then appeared in my hands, and I threw it as hard as I could at the Celestial.

"Gae Bolg!" I cried.

The blood-red spear flew through the Celestial's chest, and as the Celestial began to disappear, I rushed back towards Asahina-san and the others as the sky cracked. I sheltered them as the closed space destroyed itself.

* * *

"Kyon! Kyon! Kyon-kun!"

I heard someone call my name frantically, but I didn't know if I could respond. I searched through my memories and I came up with a blurry recollection my last act. To thwart that Haruhi's plans, I stabbed myself. Of course at the time, I didn't have anything to lose, since Nagato had been stabbed as well.

Speaking of…

"Kyon-kun, please wake up…"

I felt the existence of my eyes come into being, and I opened them. A bright light blurred my vision, and I instinctively covered my face with my arms. I did so and I was surprised to notice an intravenuous tube inserted into the base of my hand. I let my vision refocus and I sat up. I surveyed my surroundings, and I saw that I was in a hospital ward. Before I could notice anything else, a pair of hands pushed me back firmly, but gently. Suddenly, a familiar person's face was mere inches from my own.

"Kyon, please lie down and rest," said Koizumi.

"Damn it Koizumi, you're too close!" I snapped.

"Heh, sorry Kyon."

He backed away and I looked at my surroundings once more. I saw Asahina-san sitting in a chair beside my bed, a smile breaking across her face, her eyes puffy and red from crying. Apparently, she was the one calling my name a while ago. Koizumi went over to the bedside table and proceeded to write on something, and I saw another person lying peacefully in the bed beside mine.

"Koizumi, how is Haruhi doing?" I asked while gesturing towards the sleeping Haruhi in the bed beside mine.

"Oh she's fine, she's just napping for a while. She was up all night tending you. _You're_ the one who's had us all worried," said Koizumi seriously as he turned in his seat to face me.

"She isn't hurt in any way? Does she remember anything about what happened? Do _you_ even know what exactly happened?"

"She was only treated for a mild concussion that she sustained when she collapsed in her room. She doesn't remember a thing, and yes, I know what took place inside her mind," he replied.

"Well, at least no lasting harm was done. By the way, who's paying for all of this?"

"The Organization is. You, Haruhi, and Nagato were transported here via a private ambulance, courtesy of Tsuruya-san."

Suddenly, Haruhi stirred in the bed beside me.

"Mrrrmph…"

She turned to Asahina-san and said,

"Say Mikuru-chan, is Kyon up already? It's been a few days already…"

"Uhm… Suzumiya-san…," said Asahina-san pointed in my direction.

Haruhi's head turned towards me, and she saw me sitting up in bed. For a fleeting moment, I saw a genuine smile on her face. She noticed this and her face suddenly screwed up in irritation and instantly, she was at my bedside.

"Kyon, how dare you make your Brigade Chief wory! Penalty, penalty for you! You'll pay for our lunches for an _additional_ month!"shouted Haruhi.

"Keep your voice down," I replied. "What happened anyway to get you so worked up?"

"You don't remember? Koizumi-kun said you tripped down a flight of stairs _again_, and you landed flat on a pair of scissors that was lying around. You had everyone really worried," she said in a softer tone. "Mikuru-chan was crying ever since I woke up," she said.

"I think Kyon has to rest for a while longer," said Koizumi. "Say, Suzumiya-san, Asahina-san, let's go leave Kyon for a bit and have some lunch."

"Good idea, Vice Commander! Let's go, Koizumi-kun, Mikuru-chan," said Haruhi happily, her irritation at me all but forgotten.

"See you later Kyon-kun. I'll take some lunch out and make some tea for you," said Asahina-san.

I nodded and said, "Thank you, Asahina-san."

She smiled and the three of them left. Crap, I forgot to ask them where Nagato is!

Suddenly, Koizumi popped his head in the room and said,

"By the way Kyon, Nagato-san will be with you shortly."

"Really? I assume she has recovered as well?" I called.

He just smiled at me and left the room without another word.

I remembered Nagato's final moments; she was staring, glassy-eyed into the sky, her chest pierced by Asakura's dagger. Despite all of her regenerative abilities, she remained splayed and broken on the ground, because the being who stabbed her with Asakura's knife was of my very image and likeness. I gazed towards the window that was beside my bed, and I surveyed the scenery outside: people bustling about, cars here and there, with the warmth of the sun radiating towards everything. A beautiful day, in general.

"You seem to be alright."

I nearly jumped at the voice; instead, I turned towards it knowing full well who it was. There she stood, apparently unscathed, unlike my last memories of her.

"N-Nagato, about stabbing you─" I began.

"It is of no consequence," she replied. "I had quite an interesting conversation with Suzumiya while you were out."

"Whatever happened to that Haruhi, Nagato? Is she still within the real Haruhi?" I asked, a hint of anxiety on my face.

"She is no more," replied Nagato, deadpan. "Upon realizing that her rash actions led to your untimely demise, albeit only temporarily, she felt remorse of such magnitude that she offered to become the primary catalyst in your resurrection."

I raised my eyebrows and sighed. In Japanese, Nagato.

"I am not aware that my current language capabilities deviate from the structure and composition of standard Japanese," said Nagato, her eyes gazing at me intently.

Yare yare, Nagato.

"It's just an expression," I replied patiently. "But enough about her, what about you? You seem to be unharmed… Are you really alright?" I asked as I made to stand up.

"There is no need for you to move. I am fine," she said, eerily echoing what she said while defending me from Asakura so long ago.

She continued,

"When that Suzumiya disappeared, and upon intervention by the Integrated Data Thought Entity, we were ejected from the mind of Haruhi Suzumiya back into the sealed pocket of world data or, as Itsuki Koizumi calls it, closed space. Itsuki Koizumi then destroyed the entity inhabiting the close space. When the sealed reality collapsed, we arrived at the Tsuruya household. Both you and Haruhi Suzumiya were still unconscious, but I had awakened and I apprised him of the events that had transpired. He immediately spoke with Tsuruya in order to obtain a suitable method of transportation to bring us to the hospital. We have been here for the past three days. While Haruhi Suzumiya woke up after one day, only now have you awakened. Until yesterday, your body was still in critical condition, but earlier this morning, you finally stabilized."

I nodded and said,

"Well, I'm sorry for worrying all of you. Oh yeah, Nagato, could you give me a general idea of what that Haruhi said before she disappeared? You did say that she felt remorse for her actions…"

Nagato suddenly looked thoughtful, then suddenly, she was no longer standing by the other bed; instead, she was in the chair beside my bed. She reached over to my free hand and she held it gently. I gently squeezed her hand, reassuring her about my situation.

"She said that she realized too late that her actions could lead to such consequences. She deeply regretted indirectly causing your death, and she wanted to somehow redeem herself. I gave her that opportunity, and she gave up her being to bring you back. Regardless of our ordeal, I do not bear any hatred towards Haruhi Suzumiya, because it was not truly her who put us through so much difficulty," said Nagato.

I nodded approvingly at her words, and said,

"Neither do I, because that action of hers proves that she cares about me as well. So, everything's fine now, isn't it? I'm so glad that you're fine too, Nagato."

"Likewise. I am very happy that you are well again," she said.

"The same could be said for me," I replied gently. "Do we have to do anything about Haruhi at this point?"

"I believe that nothing more has to be done. When her omnipotence consented to sacrificing herself, I concluded that as a whole being, Haruhi Suzumiya could and would do the same," replied Nagato, her eyes still staring intently at me.

We both lapsed into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, I looked up and I still found Nagato staring at me. I felt myself blush and I tried to avert the gaze of her piercing eyes out of sheer embarrassment.

"W-what is it Nagato?" I nervously asked.

She didn't reply, instead she gently grasped my face with her warm hands and kissed me. My desires got the better of me and, despite my condition, I found my arms entwining themselves around her waist, sitting up as I did so.

After a while, we broke apart and smiled at each other.

"I love you… Yuki."

"I love you as well, Kyon," she answered, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Please stay with me from now on," I implored.

Damn, that sounded like something a guy in a shounen manga would say, and I instinctively blushed in embarrassment.

"I will comply with your request. Also, what is a shounen manga?" replied Nagato, deadpan.

I chuckled and said,

"I'll explain it to you, sometime."

Then I kissed her again.

* * *

Little did Kyon know that Haruhi had been silently watching them for the past few minutes.

* * *

**Epilogue**

I decided to take the tab for our lunch, since Koizumi-kun was the one paying for our hospital fees.

"Say guys, where do you want to eat?" I asked.

"Anywhere is fine, Suzumiya-san,' replied Mikuru-chan.

"If I could make a suggestion, I know of a nice Chinese restaurant two streets away from the hospital," said Koizumi-kun.

"That's fine then," I happily said. "Let's go over there and eat!"

And so we walked from the hospital to the restaurant. Upon arrival, we sat down and ordered our food. I excused myself to wash my hands and when I came back, I found Mikuru-chan and Koizumi-kun whispering to each other.

"… told her that Nagato-san is in there with him," whispered Koizumi-kun.

"Uhm… Koizumi-kun…," said Mikuru-chan.

She gestured over to me with her eyes so discreetly that I almost missed it. The Vice Commander noticed and he turned to me.

"Oh, I was just telling Asahina-san over here that Nagato-san is with the doctor right now," he said.

Normally, I might have instantly believed my Vice Commander, but Mikuru-chan's gesture earlier spoke a thousand words. I resolved to go back to the hospital right now to find out what they were hiding from me.

"You guys go ahead and eat without me. I left my wallet at the hospital," I said crisply. I turned on the spot and made my way for the restaurant's door.

"Wait, Suzumiya-san, I'll pay for your share today!" called Koizumi-kun.

I ignored him and I exited the restaurant. I then ran towards the hospital as fast as I could. If I was right about what I suspected…

I didn't bear any ill will towards Yuki and Kyon anymore. It was because of my self-imposed recollection of myself on that first day after I woke up in the hospital.

I finally arrived at the hospital and I ran upstairs towards the ward that we were using, thinking all the while,

_If I truly love Kyon, then I only wish for his happiness and well-being._

And when I nearly walked in on Yuki and Kyon kissing passionately, I immediately felt pangs of jealousy assail my very being. After firmly thinking of my resolution earlier, my jealousy began to fade and disappear. I watched them transfixed, until Kyon finally fell asleep, Yuki cradling his hand all the while.

I smiled and thought,

_Only for your happiness, Kyon._

**fin**

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_A/N: So that's it, my two part story series is finally over. I hope everyone enjoyed my work, and thank you for reading. :D_


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